Diabetic patients with acute coronary syndromes in contemporary European registries: characteristics and outcomes

Among patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS), those with diabetes mellitus (DM) are at particularly high risk of recurrent cardiovascular events and premature death. We aimed to provide a descriptive overview of unadjusted analyses of patient characteristics, ACS management, and outcomes up to 1 year after hospital admission for an ACS/index-ACS event, in patients with DM in contemporary registries in Europe.

A total of 10 registries provided data in a systematic manner on ACS patients with DM (total n =28 899), and without DM (total n= 97 505). In the DM population, the proportion of patients with ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) ranged from 22.1% to 64.6% (other patients had non-ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (NSTEMI-ACS) or unstable angina). All-cause mortality in the registries ranged from 1.4% to 9.4% in-hospital; 2.8% to 7.9% at 30 days post-discharge; 5.1% to 10.7% at 180 days post-discharge; and 3.3% to 10.5% at 1 year post-discharge. Major bleeding events were reported in up to 3.8% of patients while in hospital (8 registries); up to 1.3% at 30 days (data from two registries only), and 2.0% at 1 year (one registry only). Registries differed substantially in terms of study setting, site, patient selection, definition and schedule of endpoints, and use of various P2Y12 inhibitors. In most, but not all, registries, event rates in DM patients were higher than in patients without DM. Pooled risk ratios comparing cohorts with DM vs. no DM were in-hospital significantly higher in DM for all-cause death (1.66; 95% CI 1.42–1.94), for cardiovascular death (2.33; 1.78 - 3.03), and for major bleeding (1.35; 1.21–1.52).

These registry data from real-life clinical practice confirm a high risk for recurrent events among DM patients with ACS, with great variation across the different registries.