Abstract / Summary
Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of morbidity in middle-aged and older adults with hip fracture. This study examined the association between the hemoglobin glycation index (HGI) and CVD prevalence in this population.
Methods: Data were obtained from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Multivariable logistic regression models were used to examine the association between HGI and prevalent CVD among participants with a history of hip fracture. Sensitivity analyzes and subgroup analyzes were performed to evaluate result robustness.
Results: The final analysis included 264 participants from CHARLS and 194 from NHANES. In CHARLS, the highest HGI tertile was significantly associated with higher CVD prevalence after full multivariable adjustment; a positive association was also observed when HGI was modeled continuously. In NHANES, after accounting for the complex survey design, the associations for HGI tertiles were no longer statistically significant, although a significant positive association persisted for continuous HGI. Sensitivity analyzes yielded broadly consistent patterns within each cohort.
Conclusion: Elevated HGI was significantly associated with higher CVD prevalence among middle-aged and older adults with hip fracture in the CHARLS cohort, independent of diabetes status. In the NHANES cohort, the association was attenuated and largely non-significant after full adjustment. These heterogeneous findings suggested that HGI may serve as a complementary marker of inter-individual glycation variation in selected populations. Given the cross-sectional design, the results should be regarded as hypothesis-generating; prospective studies are needed to evaluate any potential clinical utility.
Clinical trial number: Not applicable.