Cardiometabolic markers track the progression of multiple diseases
Compared with the lowest risk category, the highest was associated with hazard ratios of 2.80, 1.84 and 1.71 for developing one, two and three conditions.
In a prospective cohort study, researchers tracked 262,464 UK Biobank participants who initially had no cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes or chronic kidney disease. Over a median follow-up of 15.62 years, 44,339 participants developed a first disease, 7,218 progressed to two diseases, and 721 developed all three conditions.
The researchers evaluated 49 candidate biological markers across five areas: inflammation, insulin resistance, abnormal blood fats, body fat and blood pressure. They selected five representative markers: the ratio of C-reactive protein to albumin, a metabolic score for insulin resistance, the ratio of triglycerides to HDL cholesterol, waist-to-height ratio and systolic blood pressure. A higher count of elevated markers showed graded links to every stage of disease progression. Disease-specific analyses showed the strongest associations with new cases of type 2 diabetes. The score for insulin resistance made the largest relative contribution across all stages.
Why it matters
As people age, cardiovascular, metabolic and kidney diseases frequently accumulate together. Tracking combined biological markers across multiple bodily systems may help assess the risk of developing multiple chronic conditions over time.
Caveats
Because this was an observational study, it cannot show that the biomarkers caused disease progression. The findings also may not apply to people who already had cardiovascular disease, diabetes or kidney disease.
From the paper
- Participants
This prospective cohort study included 262 464 UK Biobank participants free of cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes (T2D) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) at baseline.
- Follow-up
During a median follow-up of 15.62 years, 44 339 participants developed FCRMD, 7218 progressed to Double CRMD and 721 progressed to Triple CRMD.
Quoted word for word from the full text on dom-pubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com.
- Inflammation
- Lipid and ceramide metabolism
- Cardiovascular disease
- Type 2 diabetes
- Chronic kidney disease
- Humans
The paper
The Third Xiangya Hospital
Diabetes, Obesity & Metabolism, 14 Oct 2026
