Prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus in a Cohort of CABG Patients

Diabetes mellitus is a major comorbidity among patients awaiting coronary artery bypass surgery. A major burden of adult cardiac surgery is spent on coronary revascularization for myocardial ischemia, the most important cause of heart disease in adults worldwide.
The objectives were to explore the prevalence of diabetes in patients who are undergoing CABG in our unit. Identify the risk groups preoperatively and proactive optimize glycemic control.
The data collection was carried out among patients who are admitted for CABG in our unit at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka, Colombo. Pre-tested an interviewer-administered questionnaire used to collect the data.
In our study, we found a 55.4% prevalence of diabetes mellitus, and 12.7% of them were newly diagnosed to have DM, 8.9% of the patients had elevated serum creatinine levels, and 10.4% of the DM patients were already on insulin preoperatively. Almost 32.1% of them had HbA1c more than 7. Most of the patients were followed up by a General Practitioner, 28.6% or a General Physician 26.8%. Only 10.7% of the DM patients were under the care of an Endocrinologist before CABG.
The prevalence of DM in CABG patients in our study is 55.4%. Pre-operative HbA1c screening helped us to diagnose pre diabetes and unmasked new patients to have good glycemic control perioperatively and to have good results postoperatively. The endocrinologist’s input was taken as early as possible to optimize the management.