Potassium measurements and risk of type 2 diabetes: a dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies

Yang Peng; Guo-Chao Zhong; Qiao Mi; Kejia Li; Ao Wang; Ling Li; Hua Liu; Gangyi Yang

doi:10.18632/oncotarget.21823

Potassium measurements and risk of type 2 diabetes: a dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies

Oncotarget. 2017 Oct 11;8(59):100603-100613. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.21823. eCollection 2017 Nov 21.

Authors

Yang Peng¹, Guo-Chao Zhong², Qiao Mi¹, Kejia Li¹, Ao Wang¹, Ling Li³, Hua Liu⁴, Gangyi Yang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Endocrinology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University and Chongqing Clinical Research Center for Geriatrics, Chongqing, China.
² Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Diagnostic Medicine (Ministry of Education) and Department of Clinical Biochemistry, College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi, USA.

Abstract

Objective: To clarify the relationship between serum, dietary, and urinary potassium and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Materials and methods: We searched PubMed and EMBASE through January 6, 2017 for studies reporting risk estimates on the association of potassium measurements and the risk of T2DM. The summary risk estimates were obtained through a random-effects model. Dose-response analysis was conducted.

Results: Eight studies involving 5,053 cases and 119,993 individuals were included. A trend toward significance was found in the highest versus lowest meta-analysis on serum potassium and T2DM risk (RR = 0.79; 95% CI 0.60-1.04); moreover, the RR per 1 mmol/L increase in serum potassium was 0.83 (95% CI 0.73-0.95). A non-significant association of dietary potassium and T2DM risk was detected (RR for the highest versus lowest category: 0.93; 95% CI 0.81-1.06; RR for every 1000mg increase per day: 1.00, 95% CI 0.96-1.05). A similar non-significant association was found for urinary potassium and T2DM risk (RR for the highest versus lowest category: 0.83; 95% CI 0.39-1.75; RR per 10 mmol increase: 1.00; 95% CI 0.95-1.05). Evidence of a linear association between serum, dietary, and urinary potassium and the risk of T2DM was found (all P_{non-linearity} > 0.05).

Conclusions: Low serum potassium increases the risk of T2DM in a linear dose-response manner; nevertheless, neither dietary potassium nor urinary potassium shows any association with the risk of T2DM. However, these findings should be interpreted with caution due to limited studies.

Keywords: dose-response; meta-analysis; potassium; systematic review; type 2 diabetes mellitus.