The Association Between Glucose Abnormalities and Heart Failure in the Population-Based Reykjavík Study

The Association Between Glucose Abnormalities and Heart Failure in the Population-Based Reykjavík Study Inga S. Thrainsdottir , MD 1 , Thor Aspelund , PHD 2 , Gudmundur Thorgeirsson , MD, PHD 2 3 , Vilmundur Gudnason , MD, PHD 2 , Thordur Hardarson , MD, PHD 3 , Klas Malmberg , MD, PHD 1 , Gunnar Sigurdsson , MD, PHD 2 3 and Lars Rydén , MD, PHD 1 1 Department of Cardiology, Karolinska University Hospital Solna, Stockholm, Sweden 2 Icelandic Heart Association, Reykjavík, Iceland 3 Department of Cardiology, Landspítalinn University Hospital, Reykjavík, Iceland Address correspondence and reprint requests to Inga S. Thrainsdottir, Cardiovascular Research Unit, Karolinska University Hospital Solna, 171 76 Stockholm, Sweden. E-mail: inga.thrainsdottir{at}medks.ki.se Abstract OBJECTIVE —Diabetes is an independent risk factor for heart failure, whereas the relation between heart failure and abnormal glucose regulation (AGR) needs further evaluation. We studied this combination in the Reykjavík Study. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS —The Reykjavík Study, a population-based cohort study during 1967–1997, recruited 19,381 participants aged 33–84 years who were followed until 2002. Oral glucose tolerance tests and chest X-rays were obtained from all participants. Cases were defined in accordance with World Health Organization criteria for type 2 diabetes or AGR (impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting glucose) and European Society of Cardiology guidelines for heart failure. RESULTS —The overall prevalence of type 2 diabetes and heart failure was 0.5% in men and 0.4% in women, while AGR and heart failure were found in 0.7% of men and 0.6% of women. Among participants with normal glucose regulation, heart failure was diagnosed in 3.2% compared with 6.0 and 11.8% among those with AGR and type 2 diabetes, respectively. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the age-group 45–65 years increased in both sexes during the period ( P for trend = 0.007). The odds ratio was 2.8 (95% CI 2.2–3.6) for the association between type 2 diabetes and heart failure and 1.7 (1.4–2.1) between AGR and heart failure. CONCLUSIONS —There is a strong association between any form of glucometabolic perturbation and heart failure. Future studies in this field should focus on all types of glucose abnormalities rather than previously diagnosed diabetes only. AGR, abnormal glucose regulation ECG, electrocardiogram OGTT, oral glucose tolerance test Footnotes A table elsewhere in this issue shows conve