Table 1. Clinical characteristics of the participants by HbA1c levels.
| HbA1c in quintiles | P value | |||||
| Variables | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Q5 | |
| <5.06 | 5.06–5.15 | 5.16–5.33 | 5.34–5.52 | 5.53–6.49 | ||
| N of participants | 1,181 | 1,043 | 1,068 | 772 | 1,034 | |
| Age, years | 43±10 | 46±12 | 49±12 | 52±13 | 56±13 | <0.0001 |
| Systolic blood pressure, mmHg | 122±16 | 123±16 | 125±16 | 128±16 | 133±18 | <0.0001 |
| Diastolic blood pressure, mmHg | 78±11 | 78±11 | 79±11 | 81±11 | 82±12 | <0.0001 |
| Heart rate, bpm | 71±9 | 70±11 | 70±10 | 70±10 | 70±11 | 0.35 |
| Waist circumference, cm | 82.6±9.7 | 83.7±9.9 | 86.1±9.4 | 87.6±9.4 | 90.7±9.1 | <0.0001 |
| Body mass index, kg/m2 | 23.6±3.0 | 24.0±3.1 | 24.6±2.9 | 25.2±3.0 | 26.2±3.2 | <0.0001 |
| ≥25 kg/m2 | 29.7% | 34% | 41.5% | 52.6% | 60.3% | <0.0001 |
| Men, % | 55% | 56.1% | 59.7% | 56.6% | 54.3% | 0.1 |
| Biochemical measures | ||||||
| Glucose, mmol/L | 4.79±0.41 | 4.88±0.38 | 4.99±0.45 | 5.07±0.44 | 5.43±0.62 | <0.0001 |
| 2h OGTT, mmol/L | 5.57±1.19 | 5.76±1.22 | 6.00±1.26 | 6.42±1.39 | 7.31±1.71 | <0.0001 |
| Total cholesterol, mmol/L | 4.75±0.83 | 4.89±0.81 | 5.11±0.90 | 5.17±0.96 | 5.33±0.94 | <0.0001 |
| Triglyceride, mmol/L | 1.33±1.22 | 1.37±1.03 | 1.59±1.58 | 1.69±1.50 | 1.88±1.78 | <0.0001 |
| HDL-C, mmol/L | 1.29±0.31 | 1.26±0.30 | 1.25±0.30 | 1.21±0.29 | 1.19±0.28 | <0.0001 |
| LDL-C, mmol/L | 2.74±0.7 | 2.94±0.69 | 3.08±0.81 | 3.16±0.75 | 3.26±0.81 | <0.0001 |
Abbreviations: HDL-C, high density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-C, low density lipoprotein cholesterol;
OGTT, oral glucose tolerance test; bpm, beats per minute.
Data are mean ± standard deviations for the continuous variables and percentage for the categorical variables.
Linear regression model was used to test trend for continuous variables; χ2 test was used for the categorical variables.