Rising Prediabetes, Undiagnosed Diabetes, and Risk Factors in Young Women

INTRODUCTION: Women of reproductive age are less prone to cardiovascular disease than men. However, diabetes mellitus negates this female advantage. The prevalence change of prediabetes (prediabetes mellitus) and diabetes mellitus and diabetes mellitus‒associated cardiovascular risk factors have not been clearly described in women before menopause. METHODS: Using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data (1999-2018), this study estimated the age-adjusted prevalence of prediabetes mellitus (2005-2018), diagnosed diabetes mellitus, and undiagnosed diabetes mellitus in premenopausal women. Logistic regression was used to examine cardiovascular risk factors, including obesity, central obesity, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, and hypertriglyceridemia, associated with prediabetes mellitus, diagnosed diabetes mellitus, or undiagnosed diabetes mellitus in premenopausal women. The magnitude of the association among age-matched men and postmenopausal women was compared. The analysis was conducted in 2022. RESULTS: Premenopausal women experienced an increased prevalence of prediabetes mellitus and undiagnosed diabetes mellitus, contrasting with steady trends in all U.S. adults over the last 2 decades. Premenopausal women with prediabetes mellitus or diabetes mellitus (versus those with normoglycemia) have significant obesity risk, and the risk is equivalent to that among age-matched men and higher than that among postmenopausal women. The association between prediabetes mellitus and hypercholesterolemia or hypertriglyceridemia was significant in premenopausal women only. Hypercholesterolemia and hypertension associated with undiagnosed diabetes mellitus were significant in premenopausal women and men of the same age, respectively. Diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes mellitus was associated with hypertriglyceridemia in men and postmenopausal women, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Premenopausal women had increased prediabetes mellitus and undiagnosed diabetes mellitus in the past 2 decades. They face a considerable cardiovascular risk burden associated with prediabetes mellitus and diabetes mellitus. Cardiometabolic risk screening and patient education should be improved in young and early middle-aged adults, particularly in women.