Relationship between age and cardiometabolic index in Japanese men and women

Background: Cardiometabolic index (CMI) is a new discriminator of the risk of diabetes and has been reported to be associated with the degree of atherosclerosis. However, it is unknown whether and how age influences CMI.

Methods: The subjects were Japanese men (n=35684) and women (n=18793) aged ≥35 and ≤70 years who had received periodic health examinations at workplaces. CMI and its association with diabetes were compared among different age groups in men and women.

Results: CMI was much higher in men than in women (median: 1.06 vs. 0.59). In men, CMI was significantly higher in the middle-aged (40-49 and 50-59 years) groups than in the youngest (35-39 years) and oldest (60-70 years) groups and was significantly higher in the oldest group than in the youngest group. In women, CMI tended to be higher with an increase of age, and log-transformed CMI was significantly correlated with age (Pearson's correlation coefficient: 0.235, p<0.01). Both in men and women, odds ratios of CMI (high vs. not high) for diabetes were significantly higher than the reference level in all of the age groups and tended to be lower with an increase of age. The above relationships among age, CMI and diabetes were also found in multivariate analyses adjusting for histories of smoking, alcohol drinking and regular exercise.

Conclusions: Age influences CMI differently in men and women, and the association between CMI and diabetes became weaker with an increase of age both in men and women.