Introduction Undiagnosed hyperglycemia is common in high cardiovascular risk individuals, especially in those with coronary artery disease (CAD). There is no consensus about the optimal method for the screening of hyperglycemia in this population.Subjects and methods Five hundred and fourteen Brazilian individuals undergoing coronary angiography, without previously known diabetes mellitus (DM), had their glycemic status evaluated by both fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and HbA1c, being classified in normal (N), prediabetes (PD), and DM according to American Diabetes Association criteria. Concordance between both methods was assessed by Cohen’s κ. Accuracy of FPG and HbA1c to diagnose CAD was evaluated as proof-of-concept.Results Among individuals screened by FPG, 41.2% had PD and 6% had DM. Among those screened by HbA1c, 52.7% had PD and 12.7% had DM. Concordance for a positive screening of PD occurred in 125 individuals (κ = 0.084). Eighteen individuals had a concordant positive screening of DM (κ = 0.310). As a predictor of CAD, accuracy of FPG was 0.554 (p = 0.009) and of HbA1c 0.557 (p = 0.006).Conclusion a high frequency of hyperglycemia, between 47 and 65%, was found in individuals submitted to coronary angiography without previously known glucose disturbances, using FPG and HbA1c as screening methods respectively.HbA1c detected significantly more individuals with both PD and DM than FPG. Concordance between both methods is low. The question of which is the gold-standard method to diagnose hyperglycemia in this population is still open.

Os níveis plasmáticos de adiponectina e o gene codante desta proteína, ADIPOQ, parecem explicar parte da interação de doenças como obesidade, resistência à insulina, diabetes melito tipo 2 (DM2) e doença arterial coronariana (DAC). Apresentamos as evidências do papel tanto dos níveis de adiponectina quanto das variantes no ADIPOQ na modulação da DAC, sobretudo na presença de hiperglicemia. Estudos recentes sugerem que níveis de adiponectina total e de alto peso molecular (HMW) são marcadores de bom prognóstico DAC, sobretudo em pacientes de baixo risco cardiovascular, enquanto nos pacientes de alto risco ou com doença já estabelecida podem se associar com pior prognóstico. Apresentamos também as evidências em relação ao possível controle genético dos níveis circulantes de adiponectina, tanto total quanto da isoforma de alto peso molecular, sobretudo em relação ao ADIPOQ. A análise global dos dados sugere que tanto os níveis circulantes de adiponectina quanto polimorfismos no gene ADIPOQ estão implicados na evolução de DAC em pacientes com hiperglicemia e que essas associações podem existir de forma independente.

Plasma adiponectin and the coding gene for adiponectin, ADIPOQ, are thought to explain part of the interaction between obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and coronary artery disease (CAD). Here, we illustrate the role that adiponectin and ADIPOQ variants might play in the modulation of CAD, especially in the occurrence of hyperglycemia. Recent evidence suggests that total and high molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin levels are apparent markers of better cardiovascular prognosis in patients with low risk of CAD. However, in subjects with established or high risk of CAD, these levels are associated with poorer prognosis. We also provide recent evidences relating to the genetic control of total and HMW adiponectin levels, especially evidence regarding ADIPOQ. Accumulated data suggest that both adiponectin levels and polymorphisms in the ADIPOQ gene are linked to the risk of CAD in patients with hyperglycemia, and that these associations seem to be independent from each other, even if adiponectin levels are partly dependent on ADIPOQ.