A prospective study including patients with systolic CHF admitted to a heart failure clinic. Fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels were measured on two occasions, for classification of DM. Severity of CHF was assessed by NYHA class, echocardiography, 6 min walk test and plasma NT-proBNP levels. A total of 195 consecutive patients were included in the study, of these 188 were eligible for classification of DM. A total of 21%had DM by history, 11%of the patients without known DM had FBG≥6.1 mmol/l, and a diagnosis of DM was confirmed in half of these patients. There were no differences in severity of heart failure between patients with DM by definition and non-DM patients; however, high body mass index was related to worse CHF symptoms.
Twenty six percent of the patients had DM by definition, 20%of these were undiagnosed at the time of admission. One single measurement of FBG is not sufficient to establish a diagnosis of DM. Diabetes was not related to CHF symptoms or to a degree of left ventricular dysfunction.