A study of 1,356 adults without diabetes suggests that average glucose, time spent above 140 mg/dL and glucose variability may sharpen cardiovascular risk assessment, although longer-term research is needed.
Continuous glucose monitoring may offer a new way to gauge future cardiovascular risk in adults who do not have diabetes, according to a study in Diabetes Care that analysed data from 1,356 participants in the Framingham Heart Study. The research suggests that higher average glucose levels, more time spent above a glucose threshold and greater glucose variability were all linked with higher predicted 10-year cardiovascular disease risk.
The participants, who did not have type 2 diabetes or known cardiovascular disease, wore a Dexcom G6 continuous glucose monitor for up to 10 days and also completed an oral mixed-meal tolerance test. Researchers then estimated 10-year risk using the American Heart Association’s PREVENT equations, dividing people into low, medium and high-risk groups. The study found that higher 2-hour post-meal glucose readings, mean glucose, and time spent above 140 mg/dL were associated with worse risk scores.
Bahar Bakhshi, the study author and a PhD candidate in molecular and translational medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, told Healio that the CGM patterns appeared to add information beyond standard measures. “CGM phenotyping may improve diabetes prevention and further enhance cardiometabolic risk stratification in individuals without diabetes,” Bakhshi said. She added that larger longitudinal studies are still needed to confirm the findings and show whether these glucose patterns predict future disease over time.
The analysis also found links between CGM measures and other cardiometabolic markers, including triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, the triglyceride-glucose index, hypertension and dyslipidaemia. Researchers grouped participants into four glycaemic profiles based on burden and variability, and the group with both high burden and high variability had the least favourable cardiometabolic profile. Adults in the highest-burden groups had roughly 6% to 7% higher predicted 10-year cardiovascular risk than those with low burden and low variability.
Taken together, the findings add to growing interest in whether CGM could eventually be used outside diabetes care, not as a stand-alone heart test but as part of broader risk assessment. Harvard Health has noted that the value of CGM in people without diabetes is still unproven, and the new study itself was unable to measure long-term outcomes because the glucose data were collected only between 2022 and 2025. For now, the work points to a possible role for CGM in identifying hidden metabolic risk earlier, while also underlining how much validation is still needed before the approach can enter routine practice.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
