Chaiwat WashirasaksiriWeerachai SrivanichakornIan F. GodslandChayanis KositamongkolSuwat ChariyalertsakPattapong KessomboonSawitri AssanangkornchaiSurasak TaneepanichskulNareemarn NeelapaichitPochamana PhisalprapaDesmond G. JohnstonNick S. OliverWichai AekplakornRamathibodi HospitalSiriraj HospitalChulalongkorn UniversityFaculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen UniversityFaculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkia UniversityImperial College Faculty of MedicineFaculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol UniversityChiang Mai University2022-08-042022-08-042021-12-01Scientific Reports. Vol.11, No.1 (2021)204523222-s2.0-85107432264https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/79242Internationally, studies have shown associations between lipids and glycemia; however, whether the link varies by gender and population has been rarely examined. We investigated relationships between glycemia and HDL- and Non-HDL-cholesterol and their modification by gender. We undertook a cross-sectional analysis from the National Health Examination Survey for Thailand (NHES-Thailand) and the Health Survey for England (HS-England) in adults aged 18–75 year. Glycaemia was assessed by FPG in Thailand and by HbA1c in the UK. In population- and gender-stratified analyses, the relationships between glycemia and lipids were explored. A total of 15,145 Thai and 3484 UK adults with blood measurement were included. The prevalences of prediabetes were: in NHES-Thailand, 16% (SE = 0.004), based on FPG (5.6 to < 7.0 mmol/L) and in HS-England, 19% (0.007) based on HbA1c (39 to < 48 mmol/mol). Increasingly abnormal glucose homeostasis was associated with increasing age, adiposity, SBP, proportion of antihypertensive and lipid-lowering agent use and with decreasing HDL-cholesterol. Independent of age, adiposity, smoking, alcohol, physical activity, and lipid and BP lowering drug use, increasing glycemia was associated with decreasing HDL-cholesterol specifically in women with prediabetes (NHES-Thailand, beta-coefficient − 0.07 (95% CI − 0.15, − 0.001) p = 0.04 and HS-England, − 0.03 (− 0.04, − 0.006) p = 0.01). In both populations, among those with prediabetes, increasing glycaemia is associated with an adverse, significant decline in HDL cholesterol, specifically in women. These adverse effects are apparent in widely-differing international populations.Mahidol UniversityMultidisciplinaryArticleSCOPUS10.1038/s41598-021-91075-9