The diabetic patients represent a population with a high risk of morbidity and mortality because of vascular complications. Out of them, all the patients with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction have a more reserved prognostic than those without diabetes mellitus. Moreover, the patients with impaired glucose tolerance have a more severe evolution in case of a myocardial infarction.
Aim: We wondered about the progress of patients with myocardial infarction and high blood glucose levels in admittance who had not been previously diagnosed with diabetes mellitus.
Materials and methods: We took 128 patients (who did not have diabetes) with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction and divided them into three groups, according to the blood glucose level in admittance (<140 mg/dL, 140-200 mg/dL and > 200 mg/dL); we also analyzed a group of diabetics with acute myocardial infarction who were admitted in the same period in our clinic. We made a prospective analysis over a period of 30 days. We evaluated the mortality at 30 days (as primary objective), as well as the extent of the infarction and the change of the left ventricle systolic function (secondary objectives).
Results: Both mortality and the mass of myocardial necrosis grew relative to the blood glucose level in admittance; instead, the ejection fraction varied inversely to the initial blood glucose level.
Conclusion: The admittance blood glucose level represents a useful and available marker for the initial stratification of risks in patients with acute myocardial infarction, even in those undiagnosed with diabetes mellitus.