Complex interaction of fasting glucose, body mass index, age and sex on all-cause mortality: a cohort study in 15 million Korean adults

Aims/hypothesis The aim of this work was to examine whether synergistic associations with mortality exist for BMI and fasting blood glucose (FBG) and to identify FBG–BMI combined subgroups with higher mortality according to sex and age. Methods A total of 15,149,275 Korean adults participated in health examinations during 2003–2006 and were followed up until December 2018. Mortality HRs of 40 FBG–BMI combined groups were assessed by Cox proportional hazards models. Results During a mean 13.7 years of follow-up, 1,213,401 individuals died. A J-shaped association was seen between FBG and all-cause mortality for all BMI categories. Those with BMI