Objective  To analyze disease burden and years of life lost (YLL) due to premature mortality attributable to hyperglycemia among 25 years and older residents of Nanjing city in 2011 and 2017.

  Methods  The data of the study were extracted from Nanjing Chronic Disease and Risk Factor Surveillance (2011 and 2017), Nanjing Mortality Registry (2011 and 2017) and the 2016 Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD). Population attributable fractions (PAF) of mortality and YLL due to hyperglycemia-related non-communicable diseases (including diabetes, ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular diseases, and chronic kidney disease) in 2011 and 2017 were estimated.

  Results  For the residents surveyed, the total number of deaths attributed to hyperglycemia increased from 2 024 (accounting for 5.85% of all causes of death) in 2011 to 3 778 (9.22% of all causes of death) in 2017, with an increased PAF of 42.77% for hyperglycemia-related mortality. Between 2011 and 2017 for the mortality attributable to hyperglycemia-related diseases, there were increases in age-standardized death rate (from 45.06/100 000 to 50.16/100 000), YLLs (from 35 346 to 57 556 person-years), and age-standardized YLL rate (from 800.69/100 000 to 845.34/100 000). In 2017, the disease burden attributable to hyperglycemia was mainly caused by diabetes and the mortality attributed to hyperglycemia-related diseases was cerebrovascular disease. For the population of 25 years and above in 2017, the hyperglycemia-related disease eliminated life expectancy was 59.19 years, 1.03 years (0.91 and 1.15 for the male and the female population)　higher than the life expectancy without the death cause elimination.

  Conclusion  Hyperglycemia is an important adverse factor for mortality and life expectancy among 25 years old and above residents in Nanjing city, suggesting that intervention on hyperglycemia and its related diseases should be promoted in the population.