The aim of the study was to investigate the association between the visit-to-visit variability (VVV) of fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and arterial stiffness in Chinese adults.

We performed a cohort study involving 2002 Chinese adults with no history of myocardial infarction or stroke. All the participants attended three visits (the baseline visit in 2008, the 2^nd visit in 2009 and the 3^rd visit in 2013). We used four measures to define the VVV of FPG across the three visits: the standard deviation (SD), the coefficient of variation (CV), the average successive variability (ASV) and the variability independent of the mean (VIM). We used brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (ba-PWV) to measure arterial stiffness at the 2^nd and the 3^rd visits.

Compared with the lowest tertile of all the four measurements of VVV of FPG, significantly increased levels of ba-PWV change, ratio of ba-PWV change and the occurrence of the elevated ba-PWV were found in the highest tertile. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) comparing participants in the highest tertile vs. the lowest tertile of FPG-SD was 1.37 (1.01-1.86) for risks of having elevated ba-PWV, even after adjustment for covariates including the mean FPG. Similar results were found for FPG-CV and FPG-VIM.

Greater long-term variability of FPG was associated with an increased risk of arterial stiffness, suggesting that the VVV of FPG could be used for an early detection of subclinical atherosclerosis.