High incidence of abnormal glucose metabolism in acute coronary syndrome patients at a moderate altitude: A sub-Himalayan study

BACKGROUND Abnormal glucose metabolic status at admission is an important marker of future cardiovascular events and long-term mortality after acute coronary syndrome (ACS), whether or not they are known diabetics. OBJECTIVE The aims were to study the prevalence of abnormal glucose metabolism in ACS patients and to compare the different methods of diagnosing diabetes in ACS patients. METHODS We did a prospective study. About 250 consecutive nondiabetic patients (200 men and 50 women) with ACS admitted to a tertiary care institute of Himachal Pradesh in 1 year were enrolled. Admission plasma glucose, next morning fasting plasma glucose (FPG), A1C, and a standardized 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) 72 h after admission were done. Glucose metabolism was categorized as normal glucose metabolism, impaired glucose metabolism (impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance [IGT]), and diabetes. Diabetes was arbitrarily classified further as undiagnosed (HBA1c ≥6.5%) or possibly stress diabetes (HBA1c <6.5%). A repeat OGTT after 3 months in objects with IGT and stress hyperglycemia at a time of admission was done. RESULTS The mean age was 54 ± 12.46 years. The mean plasma glucose at admission was 124 ± 53.96 mg/dL, and the mean FPG was 102 ± 27.07 mg/dL. The mean 2-h postglucose load concentration was 159.5 ± 56.58 mg/dL. At baseline, 95 (38%) had normal glucose metabolism, 95 (38%) had impaired glucose metabolism (IGT and or IGT) and 60 (24%) had diabetes; 48 (19.2%) were undiagnosed diabetes and 12 (4.8%) had stress hyperglycemia. At follow up 58.66% and 55.55% of patients with impaired glucose tolerance and stress hyperglycemia continued to have impaired glucose tolerance respectively. About 75 gm OGTT has highest sensitivity and specificity to diagnose diabetes, whereas A1C most specific to rule out stress hyperglycemia. CONCLUSIONS In this small hilly state of India, abnormal glucose metabolism (previously undiagnosed diabetes and IGT) is common in patients admitted with ACS. Abnormal glucometabolic status can be detected early in the postadmission period. Our results further suggest that 75-g OGTT remained the gold standard test to detect diabetes and could be used before discharge to diagnose diabetes.