Impact of Fasting Blood Glucose Levels on Blood Pressure Parameters among Older Adults with Prediabetes

Prediabetes mellitus (pre-DM) is defined as blood glucose levels higher than normal but lower than the threshold for diabetes mellitus (DM) diagnosis. Four-limb blood pressure (BP) differences can help identify a significant risk for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The current study aimed to determine the importance of BP and the ankle-brachial index (ABI) between two patient groups and the association between fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels and four-limb BP, ABI, interarm BP difference (IAD), and interleg BP difference (ILD). Moreover, the effect of cardiovascular risk factors on the development of pre-DM among older adults was evaluated. The participants were divided into the normal fasting glucose (NFG) and impaired fasting glucose (IFG) groups. Data on physical characteristics, lipid profiles, four-limb BP, ABI, IAD, ILD, and cardiovascular risk factors were assessed. The IFG group had a significantly higher systolic blood pressure (SBP) and pulse pressure than the NFG group ( <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1"> <a:mi>p</a:mi> <a:mtext> </a:mtext> <a:mo><</a:mo> <a:mtext> </a:mtext> <a:mn>0.05</a:mn> </a:math> ). SBP was significantly positively correlated with FBG levels ( <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2"> <c:mi>p</c:mi> <c:mtext> </c:mtext> <c:mo><</c:mo> <c:mtext> </c:mtext> <c:mn>0.05</c:mn> </c:math> ). The IFG group had a lower ABI than the NFG group ( <e:math xmlns:e="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M3"> <e:mi>p</e:mi> <e:mtext> </e:mtext> <e:mo><</e:mo> <e:mtext> </e:mtext> <e:mn>0.05</e:mn> </e:math> ). However, there was no significant difference in terms of IAD and ILD between the two groups. Furthermore, hypertension (HT), metabolic syndrome (MetS), and dyslipidemia were significantly correlated with a high prevalence of prediabetes ( <g:math xmlns:g="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M4"> <g:mi>p</g:mi> <g:mtext> </g:mtext> <g:mo><</g:mo> <g:mtext> </g:mtext> <g:mn>0.05</g:mn> </g:math> ). Individuals with prediabetes had a higher BP than those with normoglycemia. Prediabetes was correlated with HT, MetS, and dyslipidemia.