Risk of Developing Diabetes in Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Angiography Based on American Diabetes Association Risk Score: A Cross-Sectional Study

The high prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes and the high risk for diabetes in the general population is alarming. In addition, the frequency of coronary artery diseases (CAD) in patients with undiagnosed diabetes is higher than in non-diabetic patients. This study aimed to investigate the frequency of people at risk of diabetes in patients undergoing coronary artery angiography (CAG) in a university referral hospital in Guilan Province, Iran.

In this cross-sectional study, data from 300 non-diabetic patients who were candidates for CAG were collected using a simple sampling method. The risk of developing diabetes was calculated according to American Diabetes Association (ADA) risk score. ADA scores higher than five were considered high risk, and ADA scores equal to 4 and lower than 4 were as moderate and low risk, respectively.

The mean age of the study population was 59.44±15.7 years. Most subjects were male (59.3%). Only 24.3% of patients were in the low-risk group while 32% were in moderate risk and 43.7% were in the high-risk group. The frequency of patients with at least two coronary artery involvement was significantly higher in the high-risk group (43.1%) than in the moderate group (34.4%), and the low-risk (22.5%) group.

A high proportion of the patients undergoing CAG were at high risk of developing diabetes. Hence, it seems essential to address cardiometabolic risk factors in coronary artery diseases (CAD) after discharge from the hospital.