Aims: The aim of this study was to determine whether the metabolic syndrome (MS) preceded incidence of type-2 diabetes (T2DM) by 5 years and to investigate the interaction between impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and other components of MS.
Methods: Subjects were recruited from the cohort study on the prevention of multiple metabolic disorders and MS in Jiangsu province, China; at the 5 years follow-up period (N=1844). The National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III Asian criterion was used to define MS. In present study, we compared the T2DM risk among individuals with or without MS at baseline. Also the interaction between the IFG and other components of MS were evaluated.
Results: Subjects with MS had a 2.3 (1.5-3.6) adjusted relative risk (aRR) of developing T2DM when compared with individuals without non-MS at baseline. Incidentally, the aRRs of MS components were 5.4 (2.6-10.8) for IFG, 2.6 (1.2-5.9) for greater waist circumference, 3.5 (1.6-7.4) for elevated triglyceride, 4.7 (2.3-9.9) for elevated blood pressure, and 2.4 (1.1-5.3) for low high density lipoprotein. After further adjustment of the components of MS, only IFG was found to be statistically significant. The T2DM risk of individuals combined with IFG increased by the number of other MS components. The result of interaction analysis was SI=1.41 but without significance.
Conclusions: Subjects with MS were at a higher risk of developing T2DM than those who did not have the syndrome. Also IFG was found to be an excellent predictor of T2DM. However, there was not a significant interaction between IFG and the other MS components.