HbA1c Screening for Diabetes in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome: A Worthwhile Test or a Pitfall?

Abstract

Background: Diagnostic concordance between HbA1c and other glucose-based tests is imperfect, and data on this problem in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) are still lacking. The aim of this study was to identify undiagnosed glucose abnormalities in ACS patients, and to compare the effectiveness and consistency of the diagnostic screening based on HbA1c to the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Methods: The study group consisted of 121 ACS patients, mean age 62.3 ± 11.6 years, without known glucose abnormalities. HbA1c, admission and fasting plasma glucose in the first days of hospitalization were assessed and referred to the results of OGTT performed two weeks after discharge. Results: OGTT identified normoglycemia in 45%, pre-diabetes in 39.4%, and diabetes in 15.6%, while HbA1c revealed these categories in 39.7%, 51.2%, and 9.1%, respectively. With an HbA1c cut-off ≥6.5% (48 mmol/mol) diagnostic for diabetes, the sensitivity of the method was 41%, while specificity was 98%, compared to the OGTT. The optimal HbA1c cut-off value at the crossing of sensitivity and specificity curves was 5.9%. The HbA1c value recommended for the diagnosis of pre-diabetes and optimal cut-off point were the same (5.7%). Conclusions: Using HbA1c without OGTT in an early but stable phase of ACS may result in a significant underdiagnosis of diabetes.

Keywords

• acute coronary syndrome
• diabetes mellitus
• undiagnosed glucose metabolism abnormalities
• HbA1c
• oral glucose tolerance test