The stress hyperglycemia ratio, a novel index of relative hyperglycemia, predicts short-term mortality in critically ill patients after esophagectomy

Prognostic significance of stress hyperglycemia ratio in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and acute coronary syndromes

BACKGROUND

Prognostic significance of stress hyperglycemia ratio (SHR) has not been well studied in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and acute coronary syndromes (ACS).

METHODS

We prospectively measured admission fasting blood glucose (AFBG) and glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and retrospectively calculated the stress hyperglycemia ratio (SHR, = AFBG/[1.59 × HbA1c (%) - 2.59]) in 791 patients with T2DM and ACS undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The primary endpoint was defined as major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCE), including all-cause mortality, non-fatal stroke, non-fatal myocardial infarction, and unplanned repeat coronary revascularization.

RESULTS

The mean age of the study population was 61 ± 10 years, and 72.8% were male. Over a median follow-up of 927 days, 194 patients developed at least one primary endpoint event. The follow-up incidence of MACCE increased in parallel with SHR tertiles (15.6%, 21.9%, and 36.1%, respectively; P for trend < 0.001). The Cox proportional hazards regression analysis adjusted for multiple confounding factors showed hazard ratios for MACCE of 1.525 (95% CI: 1.009-2.305; P = 0.045) for the middle tertile and 2.525 (95% CI: 1.729-3.687; P < 0.001) for the highest tertile of SHR, with the lowest tertile as the reference. The addition of SHR to the baseline reference prediction model improved model predictive performance markedly (C-statistic: increased from 0.704 to 0.721; cNRI: 0.176 [95% CI: 0.063-0.282], P = 0.002; IDI: 0.030 [95% CI: 0.009-0.063], P = 0.002).

CONCLUSION

SHR was independently and significantly associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes in T2DM and ACS patients who underwent PCI, and had an incremental effect on the predictive ability of the baseline reference prediction model.

Relationship between stress hyperglycaemic ratio (SHR) and critical illness: a systematic review

Stress-induced hyperglycemia (SIH) is a physiological response to acute or chronic stress characterized by elevated blood glucose levels. It is prevalent in both patients with and without diabetes, particularly those with acute or critical illnesses. The development of SIH is characterized by complex interactions among catecholamines, cortisol, and inflammatory mediators such as cytokines, resulting in increased hepatic glucose production and insulin resistance. While mild to moderate SIH may provide a protective mechanism during stress, prolonged or excessive hyperglycemia can exacerbate inflammation and oxidative stress, contributing to adverse outcomes in conditions such as acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and cerebrovascular diseases. The stress-hyperglycemia ratio (SHR), defined as the ratio of admission glucose to estimated mean glucose (derived from glycated hemoglobin [HbA1c]), has emerged as a valuable tool for quantifying stress hyperglycemia. Unlike absolute glucose levels, the SHR accounts for background hyperglycemia and provides a more accurate indicator of the relative glucose elevation associated with critical illness. Extensive research has demonstrated a U-shaped or J-shaped relationship of the SHR with disease outcomes, indicating that both low and high SHRs are associated with increased mortality and morbidity. The SHR has shown significant predictive value in cardiovascular diseases (e.g., acute coronary syndrome, heart failure), cerebrovascular diseases (e.g., acute ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage), and infectious diseases (e.g., sepsis, pneumonia). It also plays a role in other conditions, such as acute pancreatitis and certain cancers. The ease of calculating the SHR from widely available admission glucose and HbA1c tests makes it a practical and valuable prognostic marker in clinical settings. This review examines the relationship between the SHR and critical illnesses, highlighting its mechanisms and predictive value across various diseases.

Association of novel inflammatory and metabolic markers with mortality in individuals with overweight and obesity

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Stress hyperglycemia ratio (SHR) and pan-immune-inflammation value (PIV) are novel prognostic markers associated with metabolic changes and chronic inflammation, but their association with mortality risk in individuals with overweight and obesity remains unknown. We aimed to investigate impact of SHR and PIV on mortality risk in individuals with overweight and obesity.

METHODS AND RESULTS

This cohort study included 16,703 U S adults with overweight and obesity. SHR and PIV were estimated, and Cox regression, ROC, and Kaplan-Meier curves analyzed their associations with all-cause and cause-specific mortality. Subgroup and interaction analyses tested SHR and PIV consistency. Over a median follow-up of 110 months, there were 2432 all-cause deaths (14.6 %), including 677 cardiovascular, 577 cancer, and 130 cerebrovascular deaths. Participants were categorized by optimal SHR (≥1.038 or <1.038) and PIV (≥301 or <301) cutoffs. High SHR was associated with higher overall and cause-specific mortality (log-rank p < 0.001). High PIV was linked to increased risks of overall, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality (log-rank p < 0.001). Multivariate Cox models showed elevated SHR was associated with increased all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality (HR:1.59; 95%CI: 1.34-1.89; HR:1.45; 95%CI: 1.03-2.04; HR:1.66; 95%CI: 1.15-2.38, respectively). Elevated PIV was linked to higher all-cause and cardiovascular mortality (HR: 1.18; 95%CI: 1.02-1.37; HR:1.35; 95%CI: 1.02-1.79, respectively). Poorer survival was noted in obesity + high SHR and overweight + high PIV subgroups (log-rank p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Elevated SHR and PIV are significant predictors of increased all-cause and cause-specific mortality in individuals with overweight and obesity.

The relationship between stress hyperglycemia ratio and the risk of delirium in patients after coronary artery bypass grafting

INTRODUCTION

The association between relative hyperglycemia and postoperative delirium (POD) following coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) remains inadequately understood. This research aims to explore the correlation between the stress hyperglycemia ratio (SHR) and the occurrence of delirium in patients undergoing CABG.

METHODS

This study analyzed the data from 9613 patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) using information from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care IV (MIMIC-IV) database. To assess the association between SHR and POD following CABG, restricted cubic spline (RCS) models and logistic regression analyses were applied. Patients were categorized into high SHR (SHR ≥ 1.21) and low SHR (SHR < 1.21) groups based on optimal cut-off values derived from the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. To evaluate the influence of diabetes mellitus (DM) on the outcomes, further classified of four groups of patients were conducted based on the presence or absence of DM and SHR levels. Subgroup analyses were subsequently applied to assess the relationship of POD and SHR within various patient groups.

RESULTS

The average age of the enrolled patients was 67.62 ± 12.54 years, with 6284 (65.3%) males, higher SHR was associated with an increased incidence of postoperative delirium following CABG (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.24-1.52, P < 0.001), even after adjusting for confounders (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.32-1.79, P < 0.001). RCS analysis revealed a "J-shaped" relationship between the POD fowling CABG and SHR level. Logistic regression analysis further demonstrated that the association between SHR and POD may be higher than that of glucose or glycated hemoglobin levels alone. Among the stratified groups based on SHR and DM, the high-SHR/DM group exhibited the highest risk of developing POD. In conclusion, SHR is an independent risk factor that may have potential as a biomarker for assessing POD after CABG.

CONCLUSION

SHR serves as an independent risk factor and shows promise as a potential biomarker for predicting the risk of POD following CABG.

Association between stress hyperglycemia ratio and all-cause mortality in critically ill patients with sepsis: results from the MIMIC-IV database

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to explore the association between the stress hyperglycemia ratio (SHR) and short- and long-term outcomes in critically ill patients with sepsis.

METHODS

This retrospective observational cohort study was conducted using the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care-IV (MIMIC-IV v2.2) database. Patients were categorized into 4 SHR quartiles. The main focus was on in-hospital mortality and 1-year all-cause mortality as primary endpoints, while intensive care unit and hospital stays were considered as secondary outcomes. Regression and subgroup analyses were used to assess the correlation between SHR and the primary and secondary outcomes. Restricted cubic spline analysis was utilized to explore the nonlinear relationships between SHR and in-hospital and 1-year all-cause mortality.

RESULTS

This study included two groups of patients, comprising 7456 and 6564 individuals. The in-hospital and 1-year mortality was 11.96% and 17.96% in Cohort 1 and 2, respectively. SHR was associated with an elevated risk of in-hospital mortality (OR: 2.08, 95%CI 1.66-2.61) and 1-year mortality (HR: 1.70, 95% CI 1.42-2.04). Patients in SHR quartile 4 had a higher risk of in-hospital (OR: 1.86, 95% CI 1.51-2.30) and 1-year (HR: 1.44, 95% CI 1.23-1.69) mortality than those in quartile 2. Restricted cubic spline analysis showed a "J-shaped" relationship between SHR and all-cause mortality in both cohorts. The relationship between high SHR and mortality remained consistent across almost all predefined subgroups.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study suggests that high SHR is associated with increased in-hospital and 1-year mortality in critically ill sepsis patients. Further investigations are needed to validate these results.

Association between stress hyperglycemia ratio and diabetes mellitus mortality in American adults: a retrospective cohort study and predictive model establishment based on machine learning algorithms (NHANES 2009-2018)

BACKGROUND

Stress hyperglycemia is a physiological response of the body under stress to make adaptive adjustments in response to changes in the internal environment. The stress hyperglycemia ratio (SHR) is a new indicator after adjusting the basal blood glucose level of the population. Previous studies have shown that SHR is associated with poor prognosis in many diseases, such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and delirium in elderly patients. However, there are currently no studies on the correlation between SHR and the general U.S.

POPULATION

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between SHR and adverse outcomes among adults in the United States in general.

METHODS

Data on 13,315 follow-up cohorts were extracted from NHANES. The study population was divided into four groups according to quartiles of SHR. The primary outcomes were all-cause mortality and diabetes mellitus mortality. The relationship between SHR and outcomes was explored using restricted cubic splines, COX proportional hazards regression, Kaplan-Meier curves, and mediation effects. SHR is incorporated into eight machine learning algorithms to establish a prediction model and verify the prediction performance.

RESULTS

A total of 13,315 individual data were included in this study. Restricted cubic splines demonstrated a "U-shaped" association between SHR and all-cause mortality and diabetes mellitus mortality, indicating that increasing SHR is associated with an increased risk of adverse events. Compared with lower SHR, higher SHR was significantly associated with an increased risk of all cause mortality and diabetes mellitus mortality (HR > 1, P < 0.05). The mediating effect results showed that the positively mediated variables were segmented neutrophils and aspartate aminotransferase, and the negatively mediated variables were hemoglobin, red blood cell count, albumin, and alanine aminotransferase. The ROC of the eight machine learning algorithm models are XGBoost (0.8688), DT (0.8512), KNN (0.7966), RF (0.8417), Logistic regression (0.8633), ENET (0.8626), SVM (0.8327) and MLP (0.8662).

CONCLUSION

SHR can be used as a predictor of all cause mortality and diabetes mellitus mortality in the general adult population in the United States. Higher SHR is significantly associated with an increased risk of poor prognosis, especially in those aged < 65 years and in women.

Prognostic implications of stress hyperglycemia ratio in patients with myocardial infarction with nonobstructive coronary arteries

BACKGROUND

The role of stress hyperglycemia in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has long been emphasized. Recently, the stress hyperglycemia ratio (SHR), a novel index reflecting an acute glycemia rise, has shown a good predictive value in AMI. However, its prognostic power in myocardial infarction with nonobstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA) remains unclear.

METHODS

In a prospective cohort of 1179 patients with MINOCA, relationships between SHR levels and outcomes were analyzed. SHR was defined as acute-to-chronic glycemic ratio using admission blood glucose (ABG) and glycated hemoglobin. The primary endpoint was defined as major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), including all-cause death, nonfatal MI, stroke, revascularization, and hospitalization for unstable angina or heart failure. Survival analyses and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were performed.

RESULTS

Over the median follow-up of 3.5 years, the incidence of MACE markedly increased with higher SHR tertile levels (8.1%, 14.0%, 20.5%; p < 0.001). At multivariable Cox analysis, elevated SHR was independently associated with an increased risk of MACE (HR 2.30, 95% CI: 1.21-4.38, p = 0.011). Patients with rising tertiles of SHR also had a significantly higher risk of MACE (tertile 1 as reference; tertile 2: HR 1.77, 95% CI: 1.14-2.73, p = 0.010; tertile 3: HR 2.64, 95% CI: 1.75-3.98, p < 0.001). SHR remained a robust predictor of MACE in patients with and without diabetes; whereas ABG was no longer associated with the MACE risk in diabetic patients. SHR showed an area under the curve of 0.63 for MACE prediction. By incorporating SHR to TIMI risk score, the combined model further improved the discrimination for MACE.

CONCLUSIONS

The SHR independently confers the cardiovascular risk after MINOCA, and may serve as a better predictor than glycemia at admission alone, particularly in those with diabetes.KEY MESSAGESStress hyperglycemia ratio (SHR) is independently associated with the prognosis in a distinct population with myocardial infarction with nonobstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA).SHR is a better predictor of prognosis than admission glycemia alone, especially in diabetic patients with MINOCA.SHR may serve as a prognostic marker for risk stratification as well as a potential target for tailored glucose-lowering treatment in MINOCA.

Association of hyperglycemia ratio and ventricular arrhythmia in critically ill patients admitted to the intensive care unit

INTRODUCTION

The relationship between relative hyperglycemia and ventricular arrhythmia (VA) in critically ill patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU) remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the association between stress hyperglycemia ratio (SHR) and VA in this population.

METHODS

This retrospective and observational study analyzed data from 4324 critically ill patients admitted to the ICU, obtained from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care IV (MIMIC-IV) database. The SHR was calculated as the highest blood glucose level during the first 24 h of ICU admission divided by the admission blood glucose level. Based on the optimal cut-off values under the receiver operating characteristic curve, patients were stratified into high SHR (≥ 1.31) and low SHR (< 1.31) group. To investigate the impact of diabetes mellitus (DM) on the outcome, patients were stratified as low SHR/DM; low SHR/non-DM; high SHR/DM, and high SHR/non-DM. Restricted cubic spline (RCS) and logistic regression analysis were performed to analyze the relationship between SHR and VA.

RESULTS

A total of 4,324 critically ill patients were included in this retrospective and observational study. The incidence of VA was higher in the high SHR group. Multiple-adjusted RCS revealed a "J-shaped" correlation between SHR and VA morbidity. The logistic regression model demonstrated that high SHR was associated with VA. The high SHR/non-DM group had a higher risk of VA than other groups stratified based on SHR and DM. Subgroup analysis showed that high SHR was associated with an increased risk of VA in patients with coronary artery disease.

CONCLUSION

High SHR is an independent risk factor and has potential as a biomarker of higher VT/VF risk in ICU-admitted patients.

Stress-induced Hyperglycemia Ratio as an Independent Risk Factor of In-hospital Mortality in Nonresuscitation Intensive Care Units: A Retrospective Study

PURPOSE

To determine whether the stress-induced hyperglycemia ratio (SHR) is independently associated with in-hospital mortality in critically ill patients in nonresuscitation ICUs.

METHODS

In this retrospective cohort study, clinical- and laboratory-related data from patients first admitted to nonresuscitation ICUs were extracted from an open-access database of >50,000 ICU admissions. Patients were assigned to one of two groups according to an SHR threshold of 1.1. The primary end point of this study was the in-hospital mortality rate. The associations between SHR and length of stay in the ICU and hospital, duration of mechanical ventilation use, and vasopressor use were secondary end points. Logistic regression models were established in the analysis of in-hospital mortality risk, and areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were analyzed to investigate the association between the primary end point and SHR used alone or together with the Simplified Acute Physiology Scale (SAPS) II score. The Youden index, specificity, and sensitivity of SHR and SAPS-II were also assessed.

FINDINGS

In this study, 1859 patients were included, 187 of whom (10.06%) died during hospitalization. The group with an SHR of ≥1.1 had a greater in-hospital mortality rate (13.7% vs 7.4%; P < 0.001), longer length of stay both in the ICU and in the hospital, a longer duration of mechanical ventilation use, and a greater rate of vasopressor use. On adjustment for multivariate risk, a 0.1-point increment in SHR was significantly associated with in-hospital mortality (OR = 1.08; 95% CI, 1.00-1.16; P = 0.036). The AUC of the association between risk and the SAPS-II score was significantly greater than that with SHR (0.797 [95% CI, 0.576-0.664] vs 0.620 [95% CI, 0.764-0.830]; P < 0.001). The AUC with SAPS-II + SHR was significantly greater than that with SAPS-II used alone (0.802 [95% CI, 0.770-0.835] vs 0.797 [95% CI, 0.764-0.830]; P = 0.023). The Youden index, specificity, and sensitivity of SAPS-II + SHR were 0.473, 0.703, and 0.770, respectively.

IMPLICATIONS

Stress-induced hyperglycemia, as evaluated using the SHR, was associated with increased in-hospital mortality and worse clinical outcomes in these critically ill patients in nonresuscitation ICUs. SHR was an independent risk factor for in-hospital mortality, and when used together with the SAPS-II, added to the capacity to predict mortality in these patients in nonresuscitation ICUs. Prospective data are needed to validate the capacity of SHR in predicting in-hospital mortality in patients in the nonresuscitation ICU.