Glycemic Profiles and Their Diagnostic Value among Inpatients in a Cardiology Clinic

Abstract

Background: Most patients in cardiology clinics have diabetes mellitus (DM). Therefore, glucose monitoring is very important for these patients. Routinely, only fasting glucose is measured but not postprandial glucose and HbA1c; thus, the correlation between diabetes frequency and cardiac diagnosis in cardiology inpatients is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the glucose abnormalities in inpatient cardiology clinics and their relationship with the diagnosis of heart disease. Material and method: 309 patients (107 F/202 M; mean age 63.4 ± 13 years) hospitalized in cardiology clinic between December 2009 and February 2010 was recruited to the study. Admission glucose level, body mass index (BMI), fasting glucose level after stabilization, 2-hour postprandial glucose levels, HbA1c and diagnosis were recorded for all subjects. Patients were evaluated as DM (+), DM (-), and new-onset DM. Cardiac diagnoses were classified as acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and others. Pre-diabetes was defined based on fasting/random glucose and HbA1c concentrations among the non-diabetic patients. Results: 108 (35%) of patients had DM, whereas 39 patients (12.6%) had unknown diabetes. Glucose profile of subjects with new-onset DM was similar to that of DM (+) patients. The remaining 162 patients (52.4%) were free of DM although 53 of them (32.7%) had prediabetes. Prediabetes was diagnosed in 17.1% of all patients. No difference was detected between ACS and Others regarding DM frequency. Admission/fasting glucose and HbA1c levels were found to be higher in ACS patients (p: 0.02). Prediabetic patients with ACS had higher admission and fasting glucose and also HbA1c levels than those with others.