Impaired Glucose Tolerance Significantly Increases The Risk For Cardiovascular Events In Patients Undergoing Elective Coronary Angiography

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is predictive of increased mortality for patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). To what extent this risk extends below the diabetic threshold (fasting glucose level [FG] <126 mg/dL) is uncertain.The study objective was to determine the risk associated with FG in a prospectively assembled cohort of 1612 patients with CAD who were undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and had a FG measured or a clinical diagnosis of DM (CDM). Patients were grouped as: CDM; no CDM, but FG ≥126 mg/dL (ADA-DM); impaired FG, 110–125 mg/dL (IFG); or normal FG, <110 mg/dL (NFG). Survival was assessed for 2.8 ± 1.2 years.The average patient age was 62 ± 12 years; 74% of the patients were men. Diagnostic frequencies were: CDM, 24%; ADA-DM , 18%; IFG, 19%; and NFG, 39%. Mortality rates were greater for patients in the CDM (44/394 [11.2%], P