Abstract:
Objective To investigate the association between glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels and carotid atherosclerotic plaques in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS).
Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on 258 AIS patients who underwent carotid ultrasonography. According to ultrasound findings, patients were classified into a plaque group, an intima-media thickness (IMT) thickening group, and a normal group. According to the echoes of the plaques, they were divided into the calcified plaque group, the heterogeneous echo plaque group, and the homogeneous hypoechoic plaque group. Stratified based on HbA1c levels, the correlation between HbA1c levels and carotid artery plaques in different groups of patients was compared and analyzed. Logistic regression was used to generate receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and the predictive efficacy of HbA1c was evaluated by the area under the curve (AUC).
Results The average values of HbA1c in the plaque group, IMT thickening group and normal group were 6.61%, 5.49% and 5.40% respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Higher HbA1c levels were associated with increased plaque thickness and length of the plaque gradually increased, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Spearman correlation analysis showed that plaque length was positively correlated with HbA1c (r = 0.346, P < 0.01); Plaque thickness was positively correlated with HbA1c (r = 0.385, P < 0.01). The degree of carotid artery stenosis was positively correlated with HbA1c (r = 0.932, P < 0.01). Logistic regression analysis indicated that the area under the ROC AUC of HbA1c for predicting carotid artery plaques was 0.732. When the optimal cut-off value was 6.55%, its sensitivity and specificity were 60.7% and 81.0%, respectively.
Conclusions HbA1c levels are positively correlated with carotid atherosclerotic plaque burden, and elevated HbA1c may accelerate plaque progression. The HbA1c level can be used as an indicator to predict the degree of carotid atherosclerosis.