RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Metabolic syndrome has been introduced to increase the incidence of cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Our aim of this study was to investigate the association of fasting plasma glucose levels and metabolic syndrome in normoglycemic adults. METHODS: We examined lifestyle factors, anthropometric and laboratory measurement of adults with no personal history of diabetes and normal fasting glucose from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001. We categorized the fasting plasma glucose levels below 100 mg/dl into the quintiles and assessed the association of metabolic syndrome with increasing glycemia in normoglycemic adults. RESULTS: Quintiles of normal fasting plasma glucose levels showed a positive trend with metabolic risk factors including abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, and obesity in normoglycemic adults (P<0.001). Hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL-cholesterolemia, smoking, heavy drinking, and physical activity were of no significance. A multivariate model, adjusted for age, sex, smoking status, physical activity, and heavy drinking, revealed a progressively increased odds ratio of metabolic syndrome, 1.05 (95% CI, 0.76~1.44), 1.15 (95% CI, 0.84~1.58), 1.33 (95% CI, 0.99~1.80), 1.55 (95% CI, 1.14~2.10), with increasing fasting plasma glucose levels, as compared with fasting plasma glucose level of 81 mg/dl or less (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Higher fasting plasma glucose levels within the normoglycemic range may constitute a risk of metabolic syndrome in normoglycemic adults.