Blood Glucose Levels, Inflammation, and Mortality in Asthmatic Populations: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Abstract

Background: Presently, the associations between blood glucose management, systemic inflammation, and prognosis in the asthmatic population are still uncertain.

Method: This investigation included 2719 people with asthma from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The linear regression, Cox proportional hazards regression, the Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) model, restricted cubic spline (RCS), survival area plot, and survival quantile plot were used to comprehensively evaluate the associations between fasting plasma glucose (FPG), hemoglobin A1c (HbAlc), the systemic inflammation, and the mortality in populations with asthma.

Results: The Cox regression model revealed a positive correlation between HbA1c (HR: 1.21, 95% CI: 1.04-1.42) and FPG (HR: 1.08, 95% CI: 1.02-1.15) and the risk of death in asthmatics, while diabetes (HR: 1.55, 95% CI: 1.07-2.23) also increased the death risk of asthma. The RCS, survival area plot, and survival quantile plot all corroborated the positive association between HbA1c, FPG, and the death risk in asthma patients. The SHAP model suggested that the top five key markers for predicting the mortality risk of asthmatic people were age, cardiovascular disease, cholesterol, systemic inflammatory index (SII), and FPG. This investigation also revealed a positive relationship between HbA1c and FPG as well as neutrophils, along with a positive association between FPG and the SII.

Conclusions: Higher blood glucose levels-reflected by both HbA1c and FPG-are independently associated with greater mortality risk in adults with asthma. And hyperglycemia is linked to systemic inflammation, optimizing blood glucose control may improve inflammatory status and long-term outcomes in this population.