Author Interviews, Diabetes, General Medicine, Heart Disease / 03.11.2014
HbA1c Predicts LV Dysfunction in STEMI Heart Attack
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Arnold Ng, MBBS, PhD
Department of Cardiology
Princess Alexandra Hospital
University of Queensland, Australia
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Arnold: The WHO and American Diabetes Association currently recommends the use of HbA1c >=6.5% as a diagnostic criterion for diabetes. HbA1c is advantageous over fasting plasma glucose and glucose tolerance testing by avoiding the need for patient fasting and inconvenient patient preparation. In addition, patients who are acutely unwell (e.g. STEMI) may develop stress hyperglycemia, complicating the diagnosis of diabetes. It is currently unclear if HbA1c (indicative of overall glycemic control) or fasting plasma glucose predicts worse left ventricular function after acute STEMI.
The present study demonstrated that HbA1c identified approximately another 20% of previously undiagnosed patients as diabetic. Furthermore, the present study was first to demonstrate that HbA1c, not fasting plasma glucose, was independently associated with more impaired LV diastolic function and elevated filling pressures after STEMI.
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