Sex differences in cardiometabolic biomarkers during the pre-diabetes stage

•The sex disparities of cardiovascular complications in diabetes are partly due to the sex differential risk profile before diabetes.•Biomarkers of inflammation, lipoprotein, adipokine, cardiac injury/stress, kidney function, and glycemia may differ by sex during the pre-diabetes stage.•Among CVD-free individuals with pre-diabetes, we found women had higher levels of adipokines, while men had lower eGFR. Sex differences in lipoproteins and vascular inflammatory markers during pre-diabetes indicate sex-specific lipoprotein and inflammatory mechanisms to cardiovascular complications.