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Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) are the clinical gold standards for screening blood sugar levels, yet they provide only static snapshots that fail to reflect the highly dynamic and heterogeneous nature of metabolic impairment. However, continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) is reshaping our understanding of these levels. While the medical community already has begun capitalizing on CGM for diabetes management, a new study has the potential to change current clinical practices for cardiovascular disease risk stratification in individuals without diabetes.

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Researchers at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine have found that glucose patterns captured by CGM devices among adults without diabetes are related to markers of cardiometabolic risk. The findings, published in Diabetes Care , could ultimately inform future approaches to identifying individuals at greater risk for poor cardiometabolic health.

"Understanding temporal glucose patterns may be pivotal in uncovering early or intermittent dysglycemia and its downstream cardiometabolic risks. Continuous glucose monitoring may help characterize the heterogeneity underlying dysglycemia by enabling phenotyping of individuals across the blood sugar continuum," explains corresponding author Nicole Spartano, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine.

The researchers analyzed continuous glucose monitoring data from approximately 1,300 participants in the Framingham Heart Study who did not have diabetes or cardiovascular disease. They examined several features of glucose patterns, including average glucose, glucose variability and periods of higher glucose, and studied how these measures related to markers of cardiometabolic health.