Cardiovascular risk assessment in prediabetic patients in a hypertensive population: The role of cystatin C

Abstract Background The aim of our study was to determine whether prediabetes increases cardiovascular (CV) risk compared to the non-prediabetic patients in our hypertensive population. Once this was achieved, the objective was to identify relevant CV prognostic features among prediabetic individuals. Methods We included hypertensive 1652 patients. The primary outcome was a composite of incident CV events: cardiovascular death, stroke, heart failure and myocardial infarction. We performed a Cox proportional hazard regression to assess the CV risk of prediabetic patients compared to non-prediabetic and to produce a survival model in the prediabetic cohort. Results The risk of developing a CV event was higher in the prediabetic cohort than in the non-prediabetic cohort, with a hazard ratio (HR) = 1.61, 95% CI 1.01–2.54, p = 0.04. Our Cox proportional hazard model selected age (HR = 1.04, 95% CI 1.02–1.07, p  Conclusions Prediabetes was associated with an increased risk of CV events, when compared with the non-prediabetic patients. Age and cystatin C were found as significant risk factors for CV events in the prediabetic cohort.