Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Diabetes. Oct 15, 2026; 17(10): 124090
Published online Oct 15, 2026. doi: 10.4239/wjd.124090
Published online Oct 15, 2026. doi: 10.4239/wjd.124090
Regression to normoglycemia, progression to diabetes, and their association with health outcomes in Chinese adults with untreated prediabetes
Jia-Yue Zhang, Ying Xiao, Faculty of Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao 999078, China
Ya-Hui Xu, Shu-Ting Wang, Ying Huang, Wen-Xiao Zheng, Zu-Yao Yang, The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China
Author contributions: Zhang JY was responsible for data acquisition, formal analysis, and writing the original draft; Zhang JY and Yang ZY conceived and designed the study; Xu YH, Wang ST, Huang Y, Zheng WX, and Xiao Y critically reviewed and revised the manuscript; Yang ZY was responsible for the critical review, revision, editing, and overall supervision of the work; all authors approved the final version for submission.
AI contribution statement: No AI tools were used in this study.
Supported by The Chinese University of Hong Kong Direct Grant, No. 2025.133.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict of interest in publishing the manuscript.
Corresponding author: Zu-Yao Yang, Assistant Professor, The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong 999077, China. zyang@cuhk.edu.hk
Received: June 8, 2026
Revised: July 21, 2026
Accepted: September 8, 2026
Published online: October 15, 2026
Processing time: 128 Days and 23.8 Hours
Revised: July 21, 2026
Accepted: September 8, 2026
Published online: October 15, 2026
Processing time: 128 Days and 23.8 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: In the absence of drug treatment over four years, the majority (approximately 85%) of individuals with prediabetes in this study remained stable or regressed to normoglycemia, while 15.2% progressed to diabetes. Progression to diabetes was associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality in the subsequent five years, but the absolute risk attributable to progression was modest (4.35% of the progression group or 0.66% of the total prediabetes population). The associations between progression and the risks of cardiovascular and kidney disease within 5 years were not statistically significant.