Metabolic and inflammation index is linked to heart risk
Compared with the lowest quartile, the highest quartile showed cardiovascular disease hazard ratios of 2.22 in China, 1.74 in the US, and 1.68 in the UK.
Limit: Estimated glucose disposal rate can misclassify insulin resistance in the combined index
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Researchers analyzed 13,688 middle-aged and older adults with a mean age of 61.2 years in an observational study of three international cohorts. Participants included 6,414 people in China, 3,705 in the United States, and 3,569 in the United Kingdom. The authors developed an index combining insulin resistance, assessed by estimated glucose disposal rate, with inflammation.
Low glucose disposal rate, elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein—an inflammatory marker—and their combination were all linked to higher cardiovascular risk, with the highest risk seen in people with both. Glucose disposal rate accounted for 44.6% of the inflammation-disease association in China, 24.9% in the United States, and 17.2% in the United Kingdom. Compared with the lowest quartile, the highest quartile showed cardiovascular hazard ratios of 2.22 in China, 1.74 in the United States, and 1.68 in the United Kingdom. Adding the index improved traditional risk prediction models.
Why it matters
For middle-aged and older adults, assessing insulin resistance and inflammation together could help refine long-term cardiovascular risk assessment and guide targeted prevention strategies.
Caveats
Because this was an observational study, the associations cannot establish that metabolic impairment or inflammation caused cardiovascular disease. In addition, the findings come from a conference abstract of middle-aged and older adults and may not apply to younger populations.
