Should Target Glycemic Range Be Exactly the Same for Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction Versus Without Diabetes?

Relationship between hyperglycaemia at admission and prognosis in patients with acute myocardial infarction: a retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND

The optimal threshold of hyperglycaemia at admission for identifying high-risk individuals in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and its impact on clinical prognosis are still unclear.

METHODS

We retrospectively reviewed 2027 patients with AMI admitted from June 2001 to December 2012 in the 'Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III' database. The significant cut-off values of admission blood glucose (Glucose_0) for predicting hospital mortality in patients with AMI with and without diabetes were obtained from the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, then patients were assigned to hyperglycaemia and non-hyperglycaemia groups based on corresponding cut-off values. The primary endpoints were the hospital and 1-year mortality.

RESULTS

Among 2027 patients, death occurred in 311 patients (15.3%). According to the ROC curve, the significant cut-off values of Glucose_0 to predict hospital mortality were 224.5 and 139.5 mg/dL in patients with diabetes and without diabetes, respectively. The crude hospital and 1-year mortality of the hyperglycaemia subgroup were higher than the corresponding non-hyperglycaemia group (p< 0.01). After adjustment, regardless of the state of diabetes, hyperglycaemia at admission was related to significantly increased hospital mortality in patients with AMI. For patients with AMI without diabetes, hyperglycaemia at admission was positively correlated with the increase of 1-year mortality (HR, 1.47; 95% CI 1.18 to 1.82; p=0.001). Nevertheless, this trend disappeared in those with diabetes (HR, 1.35; 95% CI 0.93 to 1.95; p=0.113).

CONCLUSION

Hyperglycaemia at admission was an independent predictor for mortality during hospitalisation and at 1-year in patients with AMI, especially in patients without diabetes.

Basic types of the first-day glycemia in acute myocardial infarction: Prognostic, diagnostic, threshold and target glycemia

We described the importance of stress hyperglycemia (SH) in critical illnesses and their evaluation in the emergency department (ED) and coronary care unit (CCU). Hyperglycemia is found in over half of the patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction (AMI). SH can be used for several purposes in AMI. Receiver operating characteristic curves are needed to find optimal cut-offs to divide blood glucose levels associated with good from bad prognosis in AMI. There is a need for a consensus for pragmatic classification of first day glycemia in order to be useful in a busy ED and CCU.

Single prognostic cut-off value for admission glycemia in acute myocardial infarction has been used although high-risk stems from hyperglycemia as well as from hypoglycemia (a narrative review)

All original articles and meta-analysis use the single cut-off value to distinguish high-risk hyperglycemic from other acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. The mortality rate is 3.9 times higher in non-diabetic AMI patients with admission glycemia ≥6.1mmol compared to normoglycemic non-diabetic AMI patients. On the other hand, admission hypoglycemia in AMI is an important predictor of mortality. Because both admission hypo- and hyperglycemia correspond to higher in-hospital mortality, this graph is recognized as "J or U shaped curve". The review suggests two cut-off values for admission glycemia for risk assessment in AMI instead of single one because hypoglycemia as well as hyperglycemia represents a high-risk factor.