Impaired fasting glucose predicts the development of hypertension over 6 years in female adults: Results from the rural Chinese cohort study

Abstract Aims To investigate whether impaired fasting glucose (IFG) is an independent risk factor for incident hypertension in a rural Chinese population. Methods We selected 9583 eligible participants 18 to 75 years old, who were without hypertension and diabetes at baseline (from 2007 to 2008) and were from a rural area in the middle of China. Concentration of fasting glucose at baseline was assessed in quartiles to predict hypertension risk by gender. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for IFG (fasting glucose of 100 to 125 mg/dl) associated with hypertension were estimated by logistic regression models. Results Risk of hypertension was increased for females with glucose levels in quartile 2 (90–96 mg/dl), quartile 3 (96–102 mg/dl), and quartile 4 (102–125 mg/dl) versus quartile 1 ( p   0.001 for males and 23.8% vs 16.4%, p   0.001 for females). Risk of incident hypertension was significantly increased for females with IFG versus NFG (OR = 1.23 95% CI = 1.05–1.45). Conclusions IFG may be an independent risk factor for hypertension in normotensive nondiabetic Chinese females.