Impaired glucose tolerance ? a new risk factor?

This editorial refers to "Newly detected abnormal glucose tolerance: an important predictor of long term outcome after myocandial infarction" † by M. Bartnik on page 1990. Recently, a plethora of scientific papers have revealed the parallel impairment of carbohydrate metabolism in patients referred to hospitals along with acute ischaemic events.1 The most recent, the Euro Heart Survey, reports the finding that more than two thirds of those patients are affected.3 This shows that the physicians in charge, both emergency care cardiologists and diabetologists responsible for the long-term treatment of these patients have so far completely underestimated the disease condition. On the other hand, it has been clear for several years that more than 75% of … * Correspondence to: Dr. Diethelm Tschope, Heart and Diabetes Center, North-Rhine Wetsfalia, Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany (E-mail: diethelm.tschoepe{at}ruhr-uni-bochum.de).