Context: Studies have shown that diabetes mellitus increased brachial-ankle pulse-wave velocity (baPWV), but the impact of impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) remains controversial.
Objective: Our objective was to investigate the impact of the different glycemic states on baPWV in a relatively healthy Chinese population.
Design, setting, and patients: We enrolled 4938 subjects in the health examination center of the National Cheng Kung University Hospital from October 2006 to August 2009 after excluding those who were under medications for diabetes, hypertension, or hyperlipidemia or had a history of cardiovascular disease.
Main outcome measures: The baPWV values to assess arterial stiffness were calculated as the distance traveled by the pulse wave divided by the time taken to travel the distance. The participants were classified into normal glucose tolerance (NGT; n = 3777), isolated IFG (n = 221), IGT (n = 726), and newly diagnosed diabetes (NDD; n = 214) groups.
Results: The mean values of baPWV were 1284.9 ± 205.2, 1379.6 ± 226.8, 1408.1 ± 251.7, and 1500.8 ± 282.5 cm/sec in NGT, isolated IFG, IGT, and NDD groups, respectively. The isolated IFG, IGT, and NDD groups had a higher baPWV value as compared with the NGT group. In a multiple linear regression test, both IGT and NDD groups, but not the isolated IFG group, had significantly higher baPWV values after adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, waist to hip ratio, smoking, alcohol consumption, habitual exercise, systolic blood pressure, and lipid profiles.
Conclusions: Subjects with IGT and NDD, but not isolated IFG, exhibit a greater arterial stiffness.