Incidence, Risk Factors, and Trends for Postheart Transplantation Diabetes Mellitus

Early post-transplant hyperglycemia and post-transplant diabetes mellitus following heart transplantation

INTRODUCTION

Heart transplantation is an important treatment for end-stage heart failure. Early post-transplant hyperglycemia (EPTH) and post-transplant diabetes mellitus (PTDM) are common following heart transplantation and are associated with increased morbidity and mortality.

AREAS COVERED

This review summarizes the clinical characteristics, diagnosis, and treatment of EPTH and PTDM in cardiac transplant patients, incorporating findings from non-cardiac solid organ transplant studies where relevant due to limited heart-specific research.

EXPERT OPINION

EPTH following heart transplantation is common yet understudied and is associated with the later development of PTDM. PTDM is associated with adverse outcomes including infection, renal dysfunction, microvascular disease, and an increased risk of re-transplantation and mortality. Risk factors for EPTH include the post-operative immunosuppression regimen, recipient and donor age, body mass index, infections, and chronic inflammation. Early insulin treatment is recommended for EPTH, whereas PTDM management is varied and includes lifestyle modification, anti-glycemic agents, and insulin. Given the emerging evidence on the transplant benefits associated with effective glucose control, and the cardioprotective potential of newer anti-glycemic agents, further focus on the management of EPTH and PTDM within heart transplant recipients is imperative.

Diabetes mellitus and blood glucose variability increases the 30-day readmission rate after kidney transplantation

INTRODUCTION

Inpatient hyperglycemia is an established independent risk factor among several patient cohorts for hospital readmission. This has not been studied after kidney transplantation. Nearly one-third of patients who have undergone a kidney transplant reportedly experience 30-day readmission.

METHODS

Data on first-time solitary kidney transplantations were retrieved between September 2015 and December 2018. Information was linked to the electronic health records to determine diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and extract glucometric and insulin therapy data. Univariate logistic regression analysis and the XGBoost algorithm were used to predict 30-day readmission. We report the average performance of the models on the testing set on bootstrapped partitions of the data to ensure statistical significance.

RESULTS

The cohort included 1036 patients who received kidney transplantation; 224 (22%) experienced 30-day readmission. The machine learning algorithm was able to predict 30-day readmission with an average area under the receiver operator curve (AUC) of 78% with (76.1%, 79.9%) 95% confidence interval (CI). We observed statistically significant differences in the presence of pretransplant diabetes, inpatient-hyperglycemia, inpatient-hypoglycemia, minimum and maximum glucose values among those with higher 30-day readmission rates. The XGBoost model identified the index admission length of stay, presence of hyper- and hypoglycemia, the recipient and donor body mass index (BMI) values, presence of delayed graft function, and African American race as the most predictive risk factors of 30-day readmission. Additionally, significant variations in the therapeutic management of blood glucose by providers were observed.

CONCLUSIONS

Suboptimal glucose metrics during hospitalization after kidney transplantation are associated with an increased risk for 30-day hospital readmission. Optimizing hospital blood glucose management, a modifiable factor, after kidney transplantation may reduce the risk of 30-day readmission.

Diabetes in stiff-person syndrome

Anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) autoantibodies are a hallmark of stiff-person syndrome (SPS) and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). However, patients with concurrent IDDM and SPS often manifest insulin resistance, and SPS-associated IDDM probably has heterogeneous causes. Some patients manifest IDDM associated only with high titers of anti-GAD65 caused by SPS. By contrast, other patients develop IDDM only after being treated with high-dose corticosteroids or they progress to insulin dependency following their treatment with high-dose corticosteroids. The profile of autoantibodies differs markedly between type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), late-onset diabetes mellitus, and SPS-associated IDDM. Therefore, as with new-onset diabetes after transplantation (NODAT), SPS-associated IDDM should be classified as a specific diabetes entity, the pathophysiology of which requires increased attention.

Diabetes medication following heart transplantation: a focus on novel cardioprotective therapies-a joint review from endocrinologists and cardiologists

There is accumulating evidence that novel glucose-lowering agents infer potent cardiovascular and renal benefits. Therefore, it is imperative to reassess the management of post-transplant diabetes mellitus and consider the role of newer agents. With improved transplant-related survival and high prevalence of post-transplant diabetes, management of long-term complications such as diabetes are increasingly important. There are limited guidelines to assist in choice of appropriate agents after solid organ transplantation. Traditional therapies including insulin and sulfonylureas may still have a role; however, other agents should be considered prior. The evidence of novel glucose-lowering agents in post-transplant care is limited, and most studies have focused on kidney transplant recipients. While there are some parallels between renal and cardiac transplant recipients, the potential cardiovascular benefits, particularly on cardiac fibrosis are unique to cardiac transplantation. The treatment of diabetes, with a focus on additional cardiac and renal benefits, needs to be brought to the forefront of post-transplant care with incorporation of recent evidence outside of transplantation. The role for novel glucose-lowering agents in cardiac transplant recipients will be explored, with a summary of available evidence.

2. Classification and Diagnosis of Diabetes: Standards of Care in Diabetes-2023

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) "Standards of Care in Diabetes" includes the ADA's current clinical practice recommendations and is intended to provide the components of diabetes care, general treatment goals and guidelines, and tools to evaluate quality of care. Members of the ADA Professional Practice Committee, a multidisciplinary expert committee, are responsible for updating the Standards of Care annually, or more frequently as warranted. For a detailed description of ADA standards, statements, and reports, as well as the evidence-grading system for ADA's clinical practice recommendations and a full list of Professional Practice Committee members, please refer to Introduction and Methodology. Readers who wish to comment on the Standards of Care are invited to do so at professional.diabetes.org/SOC.

Incidence, Risk Factors and Clinical Implications of Glucose Metabolic Changes after Heart Transplant

Diabetes mellitus (DM) arising de novo after transplant is a common complication, sharing many features with type 2 DM but also specific causes, such as administration of steroids and immunosuppressive drugs. Although post-transplant DM (PTDM) is generally assumed to worsen recipients’ outcomes, its impact on renal function, cardiac allograft vasculopathy and mortality remains understudied in heart transplant (HT). We evaluated incidence and risk factors of PTDM and studied glucose metabolic alterations in relation to major HT outcomes. 119 subjects were included in this retrospective, single centre, observational study. A comprehensive assessment of glucose metabolic state was done pre-transplant and a median of 60 months [IQR 30–72] after transplant. Most patients were males (75.6%), with prior non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (64.7%) and median age of 58 years [IQR 48–63]. 14 patients developed PTDM, an incidence of 3.2 cases/100 patient-years. Patients with worsening glucose metabolic pattern were the only who showed a significant increase of BMI and metabolic syndrome prevalence after transplant. 23 (19.3%) patients died during follow up. Early mortality was lower in those with stably normal glucose metabolism, whereas improvement of glucose metabolic state favorably affected mid-term mortality (log-rank p = 0.028). No differences were observed regarding risk of infections and cancer. PTDM is common, but glucose metabolism may also improve after HT. PTDM is strictly related with BMI increase and metabolic syndrome development and may impact recipient survival.

Management of long-term cardiovascular risk factors post organ transplant

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients. Early identification of cardiovascular risk factors and their adequate management in this population is key for prevention and improved outcomes.

RECENT FINDINGS

Approximately 80% of SOT present one or more cardiovascular risk factors, with increasing prevalence with time posttransplantation. They are due to the interplay of pretransplant conditions and metabolic consequences of immunosuppressive agents, mainly corticosteroids and calcineurin inhibitors. Among the pharmacological management strategies, statins have shown an important protective effect in SOT.

SUMMARY

Strict surveillance of cardiovascular risk factors is recommended in SOT due to their high prevalence and prognostic implications. Further studies on the best managements strategies in this population are needed.

2. Classification and Diagnosis of Diabetes: Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes-2022

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) "Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes" includes the ADA's current clinical practice recommendations and is intended to provide the components of diabetes care, general treatment goals and guidelines, and tools to evaluate quality of care. Members of the ADA Professional Practice Committee, a multidisciplinary expert committee (https://doi.org/10.2337/dc22-SPPC), are responsible for updating the Standards of Care annually, or more frequently as warranted. For a detailed description of ADA standards, statements, and reports, as well as the evidence-grading system for ADA's clinical practice recommendations, please refer to the Standards of Care Introduction (https://doi.org/10.2337/dc22-SINT). Readers who wish to comment on the Standards of Care are invited to do so at professional.diabetes.org/SOC.

Impact of diabetes mellitus on clinical outcomes after heart transplantation

PURPOSE

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is common among recipients of heart transplantation (HTx) but its impact on clinical outcomes is unclear. We evaluated the associations between pretransplant DM and posttransplant DM (PTDM) and outcomes among adults receiving HTx at a single center.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective study (range 01/2008 - 07/2018), n = 244. The primary outcome was survival; secondary outcomes included acute rejection, cardiac allograft vasculopathy, infection requiring hospitalization, macrovascular events, and dialysis initiation post-transplant. Comparisons were performed using Kaplan-Meier and multivariable Cox regression analyses.

RESULTS

Pretransplant DM was present in 75 (30.7%) patients and was associated with a higher risk for infection requiring hospitalization (p<0.05), but not with survival or other outcomes. Among the 144 patients without pretransplant DM surviving to one year, 29 (20.1%) were diagnosed with PTDM at the 1-year follow-up. After multivariable adjustment, PTDM diagnosis at 1-year remained associated with worse subsequent survival (hazard ratio 2.72, 95% confidence interval 1.03-7.16). Predictors of PTDM at 1-year included cytomegalovirus seropositivity and higher prednisone dose (>5mg/day) at 1-year follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

Compared to HTx recipients without baseline DM, those with baseline DM have a higher risk for infections requiring hospitalization, and those who develop DM after HTx have worse survival. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Use of Imputation and Decision Modeling to Improve Diagnosis and Management of Patients at Risk for New-Onset Diabetes After Transplantation

BACKGROUND New-onset diabetes after transplantation (NODAT) is a complication of solid organ transplantation. We sought to determine the extent to which NODAT goes undiagnosed over the course of 1 year following transplantation, analyze missed or later-diagnosed cases of NODAT due to poor hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and fasting blood glucose (FBG) collection, and to estimate the impact that improved NODAT screening metrics may have on long-term outcomes. MATERIAL AND METHODS This was a retrospective study utilizing 3 datasets from a single center on kidney, liver, and heart transplantation patients. Retrospective analysis was supplemented with an imputation procedure to account for missing data and project outcomes under perfect information. In addition, the data were used to inform a simulation model used to estimate life expectancy and cost-effectiveness of a hypothetical intervention. RESULTS Estimates of NODAT incidence increased from 27% to 31% in kidney transplantation patients, from 31% to 40% in liver transplantation patients, and from 45% to 67% in heart transplantation patients, when HbA1c and FBG were assumed to be collected perfectly at all points. Perfect screening for kidney transplantation patients was cost-saving, while perfect screening for liver and heart transplantation patients was cost-effective at a willingness-to-pay threshold of $100 000 per life-year. CONCLUSIONS Improved collection of HbA1c and FBG is a cost-effective method for detecting many additional cases of NODAT within the first year alone. Additional research into both improved glucometric monitoring as well as effective strategies for mitigating NODAT risk will become increasingly important to improve health in this population.

Classification and Diagnosis of Diabetes: Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes-2021

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) "Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes" includes the ADA's current clinical practice recommendations and is intended to provide the components of diabetes care, general treatment goals and guidelines, and tools to evaluate quality of care. Members of the ADA Professional Practice Committee, a multidisciplinary expert committee (https://doi.org/10.2337/dc21-SPPC), are responsible for updating the Standards of Care annually, or more frequently as warranted. For a detailed description of ADA standards, statements, and reports, as well as the evidence-grading system for ADA's clinical practice recommendations, please refer to the Standards of Care Introduction (https://doi.org/10.2337/dc21-SINT). Readers who wish to comment on the Standards of Care are invited to do so at professional.diabetes.org/SOC.