In-hospital death in acute coronary syndrome was related to admission glucose in men but not in women

BACKGROUND: Admission hyperglycaemia is associated with mortality in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), but controversy exists whether hyperglycaemia uniformly affects both genders. We evaluated coronary risk factors, gender, hyperglycaemia and their effect on hospital mortality. METHODS: 959 ACS patients (363 women and 596 men) were grouped based on glycaemia ≥ or < 200 mg/dL and gender: men with glucose < 200 mg/dL (menG-); women with glucose < 200 mg/dL (womenG-); men with glucose ≥ 200 mg/dL (menG+); and women with glucose ≥ 200 mg/dL (womenG+). A logistic regression analysis compared the relation between gender and glycaemia groups and death, adjusted for coronary risk factors and laboratory data. RESULTS GROUP: menG- had lower mortality than menG + (OR = 0.172, IC95% 0.062-0.478), and womenG + (OR = 0.275, IC95% 0.090-0.841); womenG- mortality was lower than menG + (OR = 0.230, IC95% 0.074-0.717). No difference was found between menG + vs womenG + (p = 0.461), or womenG- vs womenG + (p = 0.110). Age (OR = 1.067, IC95% 1.031-1.104), EF (OR = 0.942, IC95% 0.915-0.968), and serum creatinine (OR = 1.329, IC95% 1.128-1.566) were other independent factors related to in-hospital death. CONCLUSIONS: Death was greater in hyperglycemic men compared to lower blood glucose men and women groups, but there was no differences between women groups in respect to glycaemia after adjustment for coronary risk factors.