Hyperglycemia, inflammatory response and infarct size in obstructive acute myocardial infarction and MINOCA

Background Hyperglycemia has been associated with increased inflammatory indexes and larger infarct sizes in patients with obstructive acute myocardial infarction (obs-AMI). In contrast, no studies have explored these correlations in non-obstructive acute myocardial infarction (MINOCA). We investigated the relationship between hyperglycemia, inflammation and infarct size in a cohort of AMI patients that included MINOCA. Methods Patients with AMI undergoing coronary angiography between 2016 and 2020 were enrolled. The following inflammatory markers were evaluated: C-reactive protein, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and neutrophil-to-platelet ratio (NPR). Myocardial infarct size was measured by peak high sensitivity troponin I (Hs-TnI) levels, left-ventricular-end-diastolic-volume (LVEDV) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Results The final study population consisted of 2450 patients with obs-AMI and 239 with MINOCA. Hyperglycemia was more prevalent among obs-AMI cases. In all hyperglycemic patients-obs-AMI and MINOCA-NLR, NPR, and LPR were markedly altered. Hyperglycemic obs-AMI subjects exhibited a higher Hs-TnI (p < 0.001), a larger LVEDV (p = 0.003) and a lower LVEF (p < 0.001) compared to normoglycemic ones. Conversely, MINOCA patients showed a trivial myocardial damage, irrespective of admission glucose levels. Conclusions Our data confirm the association of hyperglycemic obs-AMI with elevated inflammatory markers and larger infarct sizes. MINOCA patients exhibited modest myocardial damage, regardless of admission glucose levels.