Prediabetes Remission Tied to Long-Term Cardiovascular Benefits

MONDAY, Dec. 22, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Reaching prediabetes remission is linked to a decades-long benefit, according to a study published online Dec. 12 in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

Elsa Vazquez Arreola, Ph.D., from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Phoenix, and colleagues investigated whether prediabetes remission is associated with a lower incidence of cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure compared with nonremission. Post-hoc analyses included data from two landmark diabetes prevention trials: the U.S. Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study (DPPOS; 2,402 participants) and the Chinese DaQing Diabetes Prevention Outcomes Study (DaQingDPOS; 540 participants).

The researchers found that in DPPOS, after a median follow-up of 20 years, the event rate for the composite end point of cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure was 1.74 per 1,000 person-years in participants who reached remission at one year after the intervention compared with 4.17 in those without remission (fully adjusted hazard ratio, 0.41). Results were confirmed in DaQingDPOS (primary end point hazard ratio, 0.49) and were supported by a pooled meta-analysis. Similarly, when analyzing the composite end point in those reaching remission at least once during follow-up, results were similar (hazard ratio, 0.43).

“The study findings mean that prediabetes remission could establish itself — alongside lowering blood pressure, cutting cholesterol, and stopping smoking — as a fourth major primary prevention tool that truly prevents heart attacks and deaths,” lead author Andreas Birkenfeld, M.D., from University Hospital Tuebingen in Germany, said in a statement.

Two authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Abstract/Full Text