Fasting blood glucose-to-glycated hemoglobin ratio and all-cause mortality among Chinese in-hospital patients with acute stroke: a 12-month follow-up study

BACKGROUND: Stroke is a leading cause of death and functional impairment in older people. To assess the prospective association between fasting blood glucose-to-glycated hemoglobin ratio and all-cause mortality and poor prognosis in stroke patients. METHODS: A total of 971 Chinese inpatients with acute stroke (mean age of 65.7) were consecutively enrolled in the prospective clinical study and followed up for 12 months after discharge. Stress hyperglycemia was measured using the ratio of fasting blood glucose (FBG, mmol/L)/glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c, %). The primary outcome was all-cause mortality, and secondary outcomes were poor prognosis defined as infectious complications, a National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score ≥ 6, a Barthel Index score ≤ 60, or a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 3–6, presented as multivariate-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) across the quartiles of the FBG/HbA1c ratio. RESULTS: There were 35 (4.1%) all-cause deaths at 3 months and 85 (11.4%) at 12 months. The inpatients with the highest quartile of the FBG/HbA1c ratio had a higher risk of all-cause death at 3 months (adjusted OR: 5.16, 95% CI: 1.03–25.74) and at 12 months (adjusted OR: 2.59, 95% CI: 1.14–5.89)) and a higher risk of infectious complications (adjusted OR 2.37, 95% CI 1.27–4.43) and dysfunction (adjusted OR 1.79, 95% CI 1.06–3.01) during hospitalization than inpatients with the lowest quartile. CONCLUSIONS: Stress hyperglycemia, measured by the FBG/HbA1c ratio, was associated with an increased risk of adverse outcomes, including all-cause death, infectious complications, and dysfunction after stroke. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-022-03203-3.