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Higher blood glucose levels at the time of hospital admission may indicate the need for cardiac catheterization, according to research results published in Clinical Cardiology and presented at the 3rd Annual Heart in Diabetes Conference, held July 12 to 14, 2019, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Blood glucose levels are often overlooked when patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome are admitted to the emergency department. To determine whether initial blood glucose is a marker for subsequent coronary catheterization in this setting, researchers analyzed 333 patients who presented to an emergency department with chest pain and suspected acute coronary syndrome.
Patients were divided into 3 groups on the basis of blood glucose levels at admission: <140 mg/dL (n=221; mean age, 58 years), 140 to 200 mg/dL (n=67; mean age, 63 years), and >200 mg/dL (n=45; mean age, 61 years). Patients with blood glucose levels >200 mg/dL had higher rates of hypertension and dyslipidemia at baseline compared with the other groups.
Cardiac catheterization was performed in 90 patients (40.7%) with blood glucose <140 mg/dL at baseline, 43 patients (64.2%) with blood glucose between 140 and 200 mg/dL at baseline, and 30 patients (66.7%) with blood glucose >200 mg/dL at baseline. Multivariate regression analysis confirmed that higher blood glucose levels at admission were independently associated with a greater need for coronary catheterization (P <.001). Compared with patients who did not have diabetes, those with well-controlled diabetes (blood glucose <200 mg/dL) did not differ in coronary intervention rates.
The researchers concluded that screening for hyperglycemia on admission to the emergency department may have predictive value for coronary catheterization.
Reference
Gargya A, Ahmed M, Ward J. Predictive value of admission hyperglycemia for cardiac catheterization in patients with chest pain. Presented at: 3rd Annual Heart in Diabetes Medical Conference; July 12-14, 2019; Philadelphia, PA. Abstract 0017.
