Burden and causes due to high fasting plasma glucose in China from 1990 to 2021: a systematic analysis and comparison with the global burden

High fasting plasma glucose (HFPG) is an important global health problem with increased morbidity. There were 1.07 million deaths attributed to HFPG in China in 2019, which accounts for about 16.5% of the global deaths due to HFPG. We aimed to analyze the burden and causes due to HFPG and its changes in China from 1990 to 2021. Utilizing the data of the 2021 Global Burden of Disease (GBD 2021) study, this study analyzed the burden and causes due to HFPG in China between 1990 and 2021 and compared to worldwide. Mortality, years of lives lost (YLL), years lived with disability (YLD) and disability-adjusted life years (DALY) were used to estimate the burden due to HFPG. The percentage change was calculated as the difference between the index in 2021 and the index in 1990 divided by the index in 1990. And annual percentage change and average annual percentage change were used to analyze the temporal trends in the age-standardized rates (ASR) due to HFPG during 1990–2021. Then we analyzed the number and rate of HFPG attributed to 14 underlying causes for ages across < 5 years to 95 + years in 2021. In 2021, the number of deaths related to HFPG was 956,264, and the number of DALY was 27,655,531 person-years, including 36.29% of YLD, and 63.71% of YLL. The ASR of YLD and DALY showed an increasing trend from 1990 to 2021 (P < 0.01), but the ASR of mortality and YLL showed a decreasing trend (P < 0.01). The ASR of mortality, DALY, YLD, and YLL in males were higher than those in females from 1990 to 2021. With increasing age, the mortality, DALY, YLD, and YLL rate generally exhibited an increasing trend. In 2021, the number and rate of DALY of HFPG were attributable to diabetes mellitus were higher than other causes in < 80 years, stroke were higher than other causes in 80 to 89 years, and ischemic heart disease were higher than other causes in ≥ 90 years. The ASR of YLD and DALY showed an increasing trend during 1990–2021, thereby highlighting the need to improve treatment outcomes and formulate better policies for the prevention and control of HFPG in China.