Sex-specific threshold effect of albumin-corrected fructosamine on diabetic retinopathy: a nonlinear relationship in women but linear in men - a cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Albumin-corrected fructosamine (AlbF) is a short-term glycemic marker that can substitute for HbA1c when HbA1c is unreliable. Studies have linked AlbF to diabetic retinopathy (DR), but it is not known whether the dose-response curve differs between men and women. We investigated this in 1,090 type 2 diabetes patients (433 men, 657 women) from a single Chinese center.

Methods

Restricted cubic splines were used to model the AlbF-DR relationship separately by sex, with threshold identification via segmented logistic regression. Models included age, BMI, diabetes duration, systolic blood pressure, HbA1c, HDL-C, and medications as covariates.

Results

Each 10 μmol/g increase in AlbF raised DR risk in both sexes: men OR 1.83 (95% CI 1.39-2.41), women OR 1.58 (95%

SUBMITTER: Long Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC13623703 | biostudies-literature | 2026

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature