Associations of Long-Term Exposure to Temperature Variability with Glucose Metabolism: Results from KORA F4 and FF4

TL;DR

Long-term exposure to temperature variability is linked to worse glucose metabolism, which could worsen diabetes trends globally.

Contribution

This study is the first to explore long-term temperature variability's impact on glucose metabolism using population data.

Findings

Higher temperature variability was associated with increased fasting insulin and insulin resistance.

Temperature variability correlated with elevated HbA1c and reduced QUICKI, indicating impaired glucose metabolism.

Findings suggest temperature variability may contribute to metabolic dysfunction and diabetes progression.

Abstract

The impact of rising temperature variability driven by
climate
change on metabolic health remains understudied, especially considering
the global increase in diabetes prevalence, with long-term effects
on glucose metabolism unexplored. This study investigated associations
between long-term temperature variability exposure and glucose metabolism
in a population-based cohort of 2997 participants (4954 observations)
over a 7-year period from KORA F4 and FF4 cohorts in Augsburg, Germany.
Long-term exposure to temperature variability was estimated as the
standard deviation of the daily mean air temperature over the 365-day
period preceding each examination. We applied generalized estimating
equations to examine the longitudinal associations between long-term
exposure to temperature variability and multiple glucose metabolism
biomarkers: fasting glucose, 2h glucose, fasting insulin, homeostasis
model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), homeostasis model
assessment of β-cell function (HOMA-B), quantitative insulin
sensitivity check index (QUICKI), and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c).
We found that a 1 °C higher temperature variability was significantly
associated with higher fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, and HbA1c with %
changes (95% CI) of 2.62 (0.79; 4.49), 2.81 (0.79; 4.87), and 2.38
(1.97; 2.79), respectively, and lower QUICKI (−0.41 [−0.70;
−0.11]). These findings suggest that increasing temperature
variability exposure may contribute to metabolic dysfunction, potentially
accelerating the global diabetes epidemic.

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