China: A recent study has suggested an association between impaired fasting glucose level (IFG) and a predisposition to severe coronary heart disease (CAD) indicated by myocardial infarction (MI) or triple vessel disease. The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology on 03 March 2022.

There has been controversy regarding the association between impaired fasting blood sugar and CAD. Chang Chen, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, China, and colleagues sought to ascertain a relationship of IFG with the number of diseased coronary arteries and the occurrence of MI among CAD cases.

For this purpose, the researchers studied 1,451 consecutive no-diabetic patients who underwent coronary angiography at the First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College in Southern China. Data on demographics, biochemical, clinical, and angiographic were collected.
Salient findings of the study include:
The prevalence of IFG was higher in patients with angiographically confirmed CAD than in subjects without angiographic evidence of CAD (33.4 versus 28.2%).
Compared with CAD cases without IFG, CAD cases with IFG had a higher odds ratio (OR) of having the triple-vessel disease as opposed to having single- or double-vessel disease [OR = 1.53].
The occurrence of MI was higher in CAD cases with IFG than in CAD cases without IFG (OR = 1.73).
"In our study, we found that the IFG prevalence was higher in patients with angiographically confirmed CAD than in subjects without angiographic evidence of CAD," wrote the authors. "It was in agreement with previous study reporting and several meta-analyses."
To conclude, there is an association between IFG and a predisposition to severe CAD indicated by triple vessel disease or myocardial infarction.
Reference:
Chen C, Chen Y, Xiao J, Zhang Y, Yang Z, Yang P, Lu N, Yi K, Chen X, Chen S, O'Gara MSc MC, O'Meara M, Ye S and Tan X (2022) Association of Impaired Fasting Blood Glucose With Triple Coronary Artery Stenosis and Myocardial Infarction Among Patients With Coronary Artery Stenosis. Front. Cell Dev. Biol. 10:820124. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2022.820124
KEYWORDS: Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, blood sugar, coronary artery disease, impaired fasting glucose, triple vessel disease, myocardial infarction, severe CAD, Chang Chen, diabetes, single- or double-vessel disease, coronary artery stenosis