High Glycemic variability and fasting blood sugar increases mortality risk in diabetes patients

The key findings of this study:

1. A mean follow-up of 6.99 years resulted in the observation of 4087 fatalities overall.

2. Researchers found that patients with values at the 95th percentile of average real variability (ARV) and M-FBG had an elevated risk of premature mortality of 23% and 38%, respectively, compared to patients with values at the 5th percentile of ARV and M-FBG.

3. On both an additive and a multiplicative scale, there was a significant interaction between glycemic variability (ARV) and M-FBG.

4. In comparison to low VVV-FBG and low M-FBG, high VVV-FBG and high M-FBG were associated with the greatest risk of all-cause death.

5. The CGAMs demonstrated substantial synergistic interactions between M-FBG and glycemic variability.

In conclusion, the importance of reaching normal and stable glucose levels concurrently in the management of blood glucose is highlighted by the fact that FBG measurements taken during follow-up might give additional information regarding the potential risk of all-cause mortality.

Future research may be required to define the ideal range of blood glucose variation and to explore the possibility that lower average blood glucose levels and long-term glycemic fluctuation are linked to a lower risk of premature mortality.

Reference: 

Liu, Y., Xu, H., Li, J., Yang, Y., Zhang, J., Liu, X., Li, J., Yu, Y., & Qin, G. (2022). Separate and combined effect of visit‐to‐visit glycaemic variability and mean fasting blood glucose level on all‐cause mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes: A population‐based cohort study. In Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1111/dom.14826