Abstract
Studies investigating the ability of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) to predict the severity
of coronary artery disease (CAD) have shown inconsistent findings. While certain studies
have indicated a notable connection between elevated HbA1c levels and more advanced
CAD, other investigations have not discovered a significant correlation. Differences
in the results may arise due to various factors, including the characteristics of
the study population, the size of the sample, the study design, and methodological
variations. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between HbA1c levels and
the extent of CAD in individuals, including both those with diabetes and those without,
who have had angiography for either acute coronary syndrome (ACS) or chronic coronary
syndrome (CCS). This descriptive observational study was conducted in a hospital setting.
Patients who underwent coronary angiograms between July 2022 and November 2023 participated.
HbA1c level estimation was conducted on blood samples obtained from 239 patients,
both diabetic and non-diabetic, who sought medical attention for ACS and CCS in the
emergency and outpatient clinics. Coronary angiography was performed on all individuals.
The data underwent statistical analysis and were correlated. The average age of the
patients was 61 ± 12.9 years. Three groups were divided according to the number of
involved vessels. Single-vessel disease (group 1) was detected in 94 patients, two-vessel
disease (group 2) was detected in 75, and three-vessel disease (group 3) was detected
in 70 patients. It was shown that as the number of affected vessels increased, HbA1c
levels increased statistically significantly in group 1 when compared with groups
2 and 3. While there was no significant difference in age between two-vessel and three-vessel
spaces, patients with single-vessel spaces were found to be younger. Although smoking
was found to be low in all study patients, a significantly lower rate was found in
the division with single-vessel disease (group 1 vs. group 2: p = 0.014; group 1 vs. group 3: p = 0.036; group 2 vs. group 3: p = 0.739). Hypertension (HTN), diabetes mellitus (DM), and dyslipidemia were similar
in all three groups. According to our study's research, the correlation between HbA1c
and the severity of CAD seems to have meaningful statistical value. We discovered
that the number of vessels impacted by ischemia increased in parallel with the level
of HbA1c. Nevertheless, it is crucial to consider other variables that could impact
the severity of CAD, carry out additional investigations to authenticate these results,
and investigate additional potential predictors.
Keywords
glycated hemoglobin - coronary artery disease - diabetic mellitus - angiography
