[Influence of admission glucose level on long-term prognosis in patients with acute coronary syndrome]. / Influencia de la concentración de glucemia en el momento del ingreso en la evolución a largo plazo de los pacientes con síndrome coronario agudo.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Hyperglycemia can increase the risk of death or a poor outcome following myocardial infarction. Our objective was to investigate the value of the admission glucose level in predicting long-term outcome in patients with acute coronary syndrome. METHODS: The study population comprised 565 patients admitted with acute coronary syndrome within 24 hours of the start of symptoms. The final diagnosis was myocardial infarction in 56% and unstable angina in 44%. RESULTS: The patients' mean glucose level was 143 (77) mg/dL. During follow-up (42 [6] months), 55 (9.7%) patients died. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the optimum cut point for predicting death from the glucose level was 0.67; the cut point was 128 mg/dL, with a sensitivity of 85% and a specificity of 62%. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to blood glucose level: in group 1 (36.8%), it was > or = 128 mg/dL; in group 2, <128 mg/dL. There were differences between the groups in the incidence of diabetes (47.2% vs 12.6%; P< .001), systolic blood pressure (138 [33] mm Hg vs 133 [33] mm Hg; P< .001), and ejection fraction (48.3 [0.9]% vs 55.2 [12.4]%; P=.004). At 4 years, the survival rates were 40% and 77% in groups 1 and 2, respectively (log rank test P< .001). The following were independent predictors of mortality: admission glucose level > or =128 mg/dL (hazard ratio [HR= 2.41; P=.021), admission systolic blood pressure (HR= 0.97; P< .001), admission troponin-T level (HR=4.88; P< .001), and the development of heart failure (HR=1.04; P=.001). A rise of 10 mg/dL in glucose level was associated with a 2.56-fold increase in the risk of death (P=.012). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with acute coronary syndrome, hyperglycemia at admission (cut point > or =128 mg/dL) was associated with increased long-term risk and, in addition, was a strong independent predictor of mortality.

Importance of early combined N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide and cardiac troponin T measurements for long-term risk stratification of patients with decompensated heart failure.

BACKGROUND: Markers of myocardial necrosis and natriuretic peptides are risk predictors in decompensated heart failure (DHF). We prospectively studied the optimal timing of combined cardiac troponin T (cTnT) and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) measurements for long-term risk stratification. METHODS: cTnT and NT-proBNP were measured upon admission, and before discharge in 76 patients hospitalized for DHF (mean age 62.3 +/- 15 years; 71% men). RESULTS: During a mean follow-up of 252 +/- 120 days, 39.5% of patients died or were re-hospitalized for DHF. From receiver-operator-characteristic (ROC) curves, the selected cut-off values for cTnT and NT-proBNP were 0.026 ng/ml and 3,700 pg/ml on admission, and 0.030 ng/ml and 3,200 pg/ml, respectively, at discharge. Depending upon measurements above vs below cut-off, the population was distributed on admission and before discharge for three groups: both negative (24% and 30% of patients); one positive (43% and 42%); and both positive (33% and 28%). For the admission groups, the 1-year DHF-free re-hospitalization survival rates were 85%, 60% and 34%, respectively (p = 0.0047). One-year survival rates for DHF-free re-hospitalization were 63%, 71% and 26% (p = 0.0029), respectively, for the discharge groups. In the Cox proportional hazards model, systolic blood pressure (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.98; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.96 to 0.99), heart rate (HR: 0.97; 95% CI: 0.94 to 0.98), one positive biomarker on admission (HR: 10.5; 95% CI: 1.3 to 83.7) and two positive biomarkers on admission (HR: 13.9; 95% CI: 1.8 to 98.5) were independent predictors of long-term outcomes. However, NT-proBNP on admission was the most important predictor of long-term prognosis (HR: 5.1; 95% CI: 2.3 to 12.2). CONCLUSIONS: The combined measurements of cTnT and NT-proBNP on hospital admission were more reliable than their measurements before discharge in the long-term risk stratification of DHF. A single positive measurement on admission predicted a poor long-term outcome.