From hyperglycemia to the risk of cardiovascular disease

Blood glucose is a continuous, progressive risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) throughout the dysglycemic range. There is also evidence that post-prandial hyperglycemia may be a better predictor of CVD risk than fasting plasma glucose or A1C. Targeting normoglycemia appears to reduce CVD events in diabetes mellitus (DM), although definitive studies in type 2 DM, as well as in prediabetes, are ongoing. Prediabetes has some, but not total, overlaps with the metabolic syndrome. Patients with the metabolic syndrome are at a significantly increased risk for both CVD and DM. Although the individual components of the syndrome predict risk for CVD to approximately equal degree, increased blood glucose, perhaps not surprisingly, is the best predictor of diabetes. Finally, there are multiple mechanisms by which hyperglycemia can increase the risk for CVD.