Is the association between blood glucose and all causes and cardiovascular mortality risk dependent on body mass index

ABSTRACT

We have analyzed data on 10,410 men and women aged 54-64 at entry in the west of Scotland to see if a high casual blood glucose level is a risk factor for subsequent death from cardiovascular disease [CVD] or all causes, independently of body mass index [BMI]. A multiple logistic regression analysis was used and showed that BMI on initial examination is not a predictor of CVD or ischemic heart disease [IHD] deaths 10-14 years later independently of age, serum cholesterol, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, cigarette smoking, and glucose level in either gender. BMI was slightly negatively associated with overall causes of death and stroke deaths in females. High casual blood glucose level was a risk factor for CVD mortality in both genders and a risk factor for all causes, IHD, and stroke mortality in women but not in men. There was no significant interaction between BMI and casual blood glucose level in any of these analysis. This suggests that an increasing trend of the relative risk of CVD and IHD death with increasing BMI is not further supported by the data when adjustment has been made