Diabetes by 40 linked to later heart and blood vessel disease
Diabetes was linked to higher heart and blood vessel disease risk than having neither diabetes nor prediabetes (hazard ratio, a relative risk measure, 2.13).
Our read
Populations- Studied:
- Cohort study of 766 Black and White US adults, against adults without diabetes or prediabetes
- What changed:
- Heart and blood vessel disease risk was higher with diabetes by 40 than without diabetes or prediabetes (hazard ratio 2.13)
- The catch:
- The results cover only Black and White US adults
- Why it’s aging research:
- It bears on staying healthy in midlife and later life.
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In 4,931 Black and White US men and women followed after age 40, researchers conducted an observational cohort analysis. They matched 766 participants on measured risk factors, including blood pressure, cholesterol and body size. The matched groups included 201 people with diabetes, 201 with prediabetes—blood sugar above normal but below the diabetes threshold—and 364 with neither.
Over a median 22 years after age 40, 103 matched participants developed heart and blood vessel disease. By age 65, the rates were 23.3% with diabetes, 15.7% with prediabetes and 11.5% with neither. Diabetes remained associated with higher risk after researchers accounted for other measured risk factors. Greater cumulative blood sugar exposure from ages 18 to 40 was also linked to higher subsequent risk.
Why it matters
The study addressed whether diabetes and blood sugar history before 40 carry information about disease risk later in life beyond established factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol.
Caveats
Matching on measured risk factors could not rule out unmeasured differences or establish cause and effect. The results concern Black and White US adults who reached 40 without a prior cardiovascular event.
- Prediabetes
- Diabetes mellitus
- Cardiovascular disease
- Congestive heart failure
- Coronary artery disease
- Humans
The paper
Diabetes Mellitus, Cumulative Glucose Exposure, and Incident Cardiovascular Disease Risk
University of Maryland, Baltimore; Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
JACC Advances, Aug 7, 2026, Open access
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