Hyperglycemia during acute myocardial infarction. A six-year follow-up study

Fasting blood glucose (FBG) level and oral glucose tolerance (OGT) were determined in 169 patients within 72 hours of an acute myocardial infarction. Elevated FBG levels were found in 47.5% and a reduced OGT in 72.5%. Of 32 patients who died in the hospital, FBG value was elevated in 72% and the OGT was abnormal in 89%. Of 91 patients who survived longer than six years, the initial FBG level had been elevated in 33%, and the OGT had been abnormal in 67%. Eighty percent of the group with initially raised FBG values had either latent or overt diabetes, while more than 95% of the patients with initially normal FBG values had a normal OGT. Fifty-five percent of the patients with abnormal OGT during myocardial infarction showed normal OGT six years later. The FBG level shortly after an acute myocardial infarction is a better guide to prognosis and to the prediction of subsequent development of diabetes mellitus than the OGT test.