Prediabetes remission linked to decades-long reductions in heart risk, study finds
International analyses indicate normalizing blood sugar through lifestyle changes can cut long-term cardiovascular death and heart-failure hospitalization in prediabetes patients
Two long-term analyses published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology show that adults with prediabetes who bring blood sugar back to normal through lifestyle changes may substantially reduce their risk of cardiovascular death and heart-failure hospitalization, with benefits enduring for years after the program ends.
The researchers pulled data from a 20-year U.S. trial and a 30-year Chinese trial, both tracking people with prediabetes who were coached to lower blood sugar through diet, exercise and weight loss. Participants were categorized into a remission group (blood sugar returned to normal) and a non-remission group (still in the prediabetes range). Investigators then tracked heart-disease deaths and hospitalizations for heart failure.
Among those who reached remission, the risk of dying from heart disease or being hospitalized for heart failure fell by about 58% compared with those who did not achieve remission. The remission group also showed lower rates of other major heart events and lower overall mortality, with the protective effect persisting for decades after the weight-management program ended, according to the researchers.
The study authors said, 'Reaching prediabetes remission is linked to a decades-long benefit, halving the risk of cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure in diverse populations. Targeting remission might represent a new approach to cardiovascular prevention.'
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Dr. Andreas Birkenfeld, a study co-author and professor of medicine at the University Hospital Tübingen in Germany, said that reaching remission is not only relevant for reducing progression to type 2 diabetes, but may also be associated with a meaningful reduction in heart attack risk, cardiac death and heart failure. 'Importantly, this underscores that prediabetes is a modifiable stage where timely, evidence-based interventions (especially lifestyle measures, and in selected cases, medication) can make a real difference,' he added. The researchers also noted the potential for decades-long benefits.
The study has limitations: it analyzed trials not originally designed to measure cardiovascular outcomes, so the results show associations rather than causation; unmeasured lifestyle and health factors, population differences and lack of randomization for heart outcomes may have influenced the observed risk reductions.
Birkenfeld suggested that patients with prediabetes ask doctors about current status, personal cardiovascular risk, target blood glucose, frequency of blood-sugar testing, and monitoring of risk factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol and kidney function; and ask whether medication could be appropriate if lifestyle isn't enough.
About 98 million American adults have prediabetes, more than one in three, according to CDC data. Eight in 10 of these adults are unaware that they have the disease.
Health officials say prediabetes is a modifiable stage where timely, evidence-based interventions can make a real difference in long-term heart health.
