Running title: Plasma glucose and mortality

Plasma glucose and mortality Objective: To evaluate whether impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and/or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) are associated with increased risk of mortality and prevalent ischemic heart disease (IHD); to analyze if the increased risk of death is dependent on subsequent development of diabetes in Pima Indians. Research Design and Methods: 2,993 Pima Indians aged 35 years and older were included. Prevalent IHD, defined by major ischemic ECG changes, was evaluated according to the following glucose/diabetes categories: normal glucose regulation (NGR), IFG and/or IGT, and diabetic groups by duration. During a median follow-up of 10.4 years, 780 subjects died from natural causes and 156 of these from IHD. Mortality was analyzed according to the same glucose/diabetes categories at baseline and then as time-dependent variables. Results: Only subjects with diabetes ≥15 years of duration have a higher prevalence of IHD (odds ratio=1.9, 95 % CI=1.4-2.5) relative to NGR. In baseline and time-dependent models, age-sex-adjusted death rates from natural causes and from IHD were similar among the nondiabeti