Effect of hyperglycemia on acute coronary syndrome and the implications of antiplatelet therapy

According to data from the World Health Organization, cardiovascular disease is the main cause of death associated with risk factors such as smoking, sedentary lifestyle, hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes mellitus. Precisely, this last disease is one of the most related to the appearance, progression, and complications of a coronary event. Hyperglycemia potentiates different biochemical and cellular pathways such as sorbitol, the nuclear factor k beta, the formation of advanced glycation end products, the protein kinase C pathway and oxidative stress, which end up favoring in the coronary patient a proinflammatory state and procoagulant, which is associated with a worse prognosis and aggravates myocardial injury ; in addition, it inhibits and competes with the action of platelet antiaggregants, generating resistance not only to these but also to thrombolytic therapy. Therefore, it is necessary to generate an update of the topic, to sensitize the medical community about the importance of glycemic control, especially in patients with ischemic heart disease and thus improve control strategies. The bibliographic search was carried out in PubMed, in a structured, non-systematic way. Articles published in English and Spanish were included, without restriction by publication date.