Association of glycation gap with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in US adults: A nationwide cohort study

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the relationship of the glycation gap (GGap) with all-cause and cardiovascular (CV) mortality in US adults.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study comprising 12 909 individual participant data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2004 and their mortality data through 31 December 2019. Weighted Cox proportional hazards regression models and restricted cubic splines were used to investigate the associations between GGap and mortality.

Results: During a median follow-up of 16.8 years, 3528 deaths occurred, including 1140 CV deaths. The associations of GGap with risk of all-cause and CV mortality were U-shaped (both P for non-linearity < .001). Compared with individuals with a GGap of 0.09%-0.38% (61st-80th centiles), the multivariable-adjusted HRs and 95% CIs for individuals with a GGap less than -0.83% (first-fifth centiles) and individuals with a GGap greater than 0.90% (96th-100th centiles) were 1.36 (1.10, 1.69) and 1.21 (1.00, 1.45) for all-cause mortality, and 1.77 (1.16, 2.71) and 1.43 (1.04, 1.95) for CV mortality. The GGap value associated with the lowest risk of all-cause and CV mortality was 0.38% in the general population and 0.78% among individuals with diabetes.

Conclusions: We found a U-shaped association between GGap and all-cause and CV mortality, with significant positive or negative GGap values associated with increased mortality risk, probably because of glycaemic variability and fructosamine-3-kinase activity.

Keywords: NHANES; all-cause; cardiovascular disease; glycation gap; mortality.