BACKGROUND Elevated circulating branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), measured at a single time point in middle life, are strongly associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). However, the longitudinal patterns of change in BCAAs through young adulthood and their association with DM in later life are unknown.METHODS We serially measured BCAAs over 28 years in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, a prospective cohort of apparently healthy Black and White young adults at baseline. Trajectories of circulating BCAA concentrations from years 2–30 (for prevalent DM) or years 2–20 (for incident DM) were determined by latent class modeling.RESULTS Among 3,081 apparently healthy young adults, trajectory analysis from years 2–30 revealed 3 distinct BCAA trajectory groups: low-stable (n = 1,427), moderate-stable (n = 1,384), and high-increasing (n = 270) groups. Male sex, higher body mass index, and higher atherogenic lipid fractions were more common in the moderate-stable and high-increasing groups. Higher risk of prevalent DM was associated with the moderate-stable (OR = 2.59, 95% CI: 1.90–3.55) and high-increasing (OR = 6.03, 95% CI: 3.86–9.43) BCAA trajectory groups in adjusted models. A separate trajectory group analysis from years 2–20 for incident DM after year 20 showed that moderate-stable and high-increasing trajectory groups were also significantly associated with higher risk of incident DM, after adjustment for clinical variables and glucose levels.CONCLUSION BCAA levels track over a 28-year span in most young adults, but serial clinical metabolomic measurements identify subpopulations with rising levels associated with high risk of DM in later life.FUNDING This research was supported by the NIH, under grants R01 HL146844 (JTW) and T32 HL069771 (MRC). The CARDIA study is conducted and supported by the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in collaboration with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (HHSN268201800005I and HHSN268201800007I), Northwestern University (HHSN268201800003I), the University of Minnesota (HHSN268201800006I), and Kaiser Foundation Research Institute (HHSN268201800004I).
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