This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Lower creatinine levels may indicate elevated diabetes risk among men
Decreasing creatinine levels were associated with increasing risk for diabetes among men, particularly for those older than age 45 years, according to findings presented in the Journal of Diabetes Investigation.
“Skeletal muscle is a primary target for insulin action. Thus, decreased skeletal muscle mass could potentially trigger insulin resistance, which is an underlying mechanism of diabetes,” Huanhuan Hu, PhD, a senior researcher at the National Center for Global Health and Medicine in Japan, and colleagues wrote. “Because of the close association between muscle mass and creatinine ... serum creatinine is also used as an inexpensive, easily available surrogate of muscle mass when the kidney functions are stable and protein intake is normal.”
Hu and colleagues conducted a prospective analysis using data from 31,343 men aged between 20 to 64 years without diabetes at baseline from the Japan Epidemiology Collaboration on Occupational Health Study. Participants were followed for a median of 7.7 years until March 2017 and separated into four groups based on baseline serum creatinine levels: less than 0.7 mg/dL (n = 1,492; mean age, 44.9 years), 0.7 mg/dL to 0.79 mg/dL (n = 6,405; mean age, 42.6 years), 0.8 mg/dL to 0.89 mg/dL (n = 10,848; mean age, 42.1 years) and 0.9 mg/dL to 1.2 mg/dL (n = 12,598; mean age, 43.6 years).
During follow-up, the researchers identified 2,509 cases of diabetes in the study cohort. Men with serum creatinine levels of less than 0.7 mg/dL were at the highest risk for the condition (HR = 1.56; 95% CI, 1.35-1.82) compared with men with levels of 0.9 mg/dL to 1.2 mg/dL even after adjustments for age, smoking status, BMI, hypertension and dyslipidemia. Men with serum creatinine levels of 0.7 mg/dL to 0.79 mg/dL (HR = 1.22; 95% CI, 1.09-1.35) and 0.8 mg/dL to 0.89 mg/dL (HR = 1.06; 95% CI, 0.96-1.17) also were at higher fully adjusted risk compared with men with levels of 0.9 mg/dL to 1.2 mg/dL. The researchers further observed that men who were aged 45 years or older had higher risk in all creatinine groups compared with men who were younger than 45 years (P = .001).
“Given that aging is also associated with the impairment of beta-cell function, it is assumed that older adults are more likely to develop diabetes than younger adults in the presence of insulin resistance,” the researchers wrote. “If this is the case, older people might benefit more than younger people from strength training, which increases muscle and, consequently, improves insulin sensitivity.” – by Phil Neuffer
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.