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World J Cardiol. May 26, 2026; 18(5): 119429
Published online May 26, 2026. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v18.i5.119429
Published online May 26, 2026. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v18.i5.119429
Stress hyperglycemia and early mortality in non-ST elevation myocardial infarction
Emir Becirovic, Department of Intensive Care Unit, University Clinical Center Tuzla, Tuzla 75000, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Minela Becirovic, Department of Nephrology, University Clinical Center Tuzla, Tuzla 75000, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Jusuf Hodzic, Amir Becirovic, Department of Endocrinology, University Clinical Centre Tuzla, Tuzla 75000, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mugdim Bajric, Clinic for Invasive Cardiology, University Clinical Centre Tuzla, Tuzla 75000, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Admir Abdic, Department of Surgery, Cantonal Hospital Bihać, Bihać 77000, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Fahrudin Sabanovic, Department of Internal Medicine, Cantonal Hospital Zenica, Zenica 72000, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Emir Begagic, Department of Neurosurgery, Cantonal Hospital Zenica, Zenica 72000, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Author contributions: Becirovic E, Begagic E, and Becirovic M designed the research study; Begagic E, Hodzic J, Bajric M, and Abdic A performed the research; Sabanovic F supervised the research; Begagic E, Becirovic E, Becirovic M, and Hodzic J analyzed the data; Becirovic E and Begagic E wrote the manuscript; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the University Clinical Center Tuzla (No. 02-09/2-97/21).
Informed consent statement: The Ethics Committee determined that written informed consent from individual participants was not required, given the observational nature of the study and the use of routinely collected clinical data in anonymized form.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 statement.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset are available from the corresponding author at
Corresponding author: Emir Begagic, Department of Neurosurgery, Cantonal Hospital Zenica, Crkvice 67, Zenica 72000, Bosnia and Herzegovina. begagicem@gmail.com
Received: January 27, 2026
Revised: February 28, 2026
Accepted: April 1, 2026
Published online: May 26, 2026
Processing time: 112 Days and 12.6 Hours
Revised: February 28, 2026
Accepted: April 1, 2026
Published online: May 26, 2026
Processing time: 112 Days and 12.6 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Acute hyperglycemia is common in patients with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, yet its clinical interpretation remains challenging. This study demonstrates that stress hyperglycemia indices, including the stress hyperglycemia ratio and admission glucose-to-chronic glycemia ratio, are associated with early mortality, whereas glycated hemoglobin alone does not reliably discriminate short-term risk. These findings indicate that acute glycemic dysregulation primarily reflects the magnitude of systemic stress rather than chronic metabolic control and may contribute to early metabolic risk stratification, particularly before comprehensive echocardiographic assessment becomes available.