Cumulative BMI and incident prediabetes over 30 years of follow‐up: The CARDIA study

Objective This study examined how cumulative BMI (cBMI) is associated with incident prediabetes in a biracial observational cohort study followed from young adulthood to middle age. Methods Black and White men and women (n = 4190) from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, ages 18 to 30 years in 1985 to 1986 and free of prediabetes or diabetes at baseline, were followed for 30 years. Cox regression was used to determine how cBMI was associated with incident prediabetes after controlling for traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Results Over 30 years of follow‐up, 46.2% of the sample developed prediabetes. Mean cBMI was 801.4 BMI‐years for those with prediabetes and 658.3 BMI‐years for those without (p