Background and aims: Three groups of subjects were identified within a representative sample of older Italians: subjects with normal fasting glucose (NFG), with impaired fasting glucose (IFG) or with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the relationship among plasma lipids, lipoproteins, other metabolic factors in the three groups, and their role in predicting total fatal events.
Methods and results: 2422 subjects, aged 65-84 years, taking part into the Italian Longitudinal Study on Aging were included in the analyses. Factor analysis was conducted separately for men and women. Factor scores were used as independent variables in Cox Proportional Hazard models, to determine factors predicting death at the follow-up in NFG, IFG and T2D subjects. Four major factors were found for men ("insulin resistance", "body size", "total cholesterol", "HDL cholesterol") and four also for women ("insulin resistance", "total cholesterol", "body size", "HDL cholesterol"). For NFG and IFG men, and for both T2D men and women, the "HDL cholesterol" was a significant protective factor for total deaths (NFG men: HR = 0.79, 95% CI 0.67-0.93; IFG men: HR = 0.59, 95% CI 0.45-0.79; T2D men: HR = 0.55, 95% CI 0.34-0.89; T2D women: HR = 0.61, 95% CI 0.44-0.86). Among NFG women, the "body size" factor was also a protective factor with respect to total deaths (HR = 0.74, 95% CI 0.57-0.95).
Conclusion: A factor including HDL Cholesterol and Apo A-I showed protection against all-cause mortality in older men, independently from the glycemia level, and in women only in those diagnosed with T2D.
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