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Synergistic predictive value of dynamic glycemic trajectories and variability metrics for 28-day mortality in critically ill heart failure
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  • Published: 31 March 2026

Synergistic predictive value of dynamic glycemic trajectories and variability metrics for 28-day mortality in critically ill heart failure

  • Ping-yu Cai1 na1,
  • Wei-ze Lin2 na1,
  • Shu-han Chen1 na1,
  • Shi-hong Lin3,
  • Bao-ya Yang4,
  • Jun-han Chen5 &
  • …
  • Hui-li Lin1 

Scientific Reports , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

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We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Subjects

  • Biomarkers
  • Cardiology
  • Diseases
  • Endocrinology
  • Health care
  • Medical research
  • Risk factors

Abstract

Glucose dynamics is one of the unique mechanisms in patients with critically ill heart failure (HF). The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of dynamic blood glucose trajectories on 28-day mortality in critically ill HF patients. Latent Category Growth Model (LCGM) was used to classify patients’ blood glucose trajectories during the first 4 days of intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression assessed the association between admission blood glucose levels, glucose trajectories, and 28-day mortality in critically ill HF patients. Subgroup analyses evaluated the robustness of the findings. A total of 6062 patients with critically ill HF were included in this retrospective cohort study, with 28-day mortality occurring in 1306 (21.54%) patients. The Kaplan Meier survival curve shows that the survival probabilities of different blood glucose trajectories from high to low are: class 1 > class 3 > class 2 > class 4, and there are significant inter class differences. COX regression confirms that the predictive ability of blood glucose trajectory classification for mortality in patients with critically ill HF is superior to the blood glucose coefficient of variation. Subgroup analysis further evaluated the consistency of the association between blood glucose latent trajectory classification and 28-day mortality in different patient characteristics. Dynamic blood glucose trajectories and variability indicators provide complementary information for predicting 28-day mortality in critically ill HF patients.

Data availability

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

AIC:

Akaike information criterion

AMI:

Acute myocardial infarction

APS III:

Acute physiology score III

BIC:

Bayesian information criteria

BUN:

Blood urea nitrogen

CVD:

Cardiovascular disease

DM:

Diabetes mellitus

GV:

Glucose variability

HF:

Heart failure

LASSO:

Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator

LCGM:

Latent category growth model

ICU:

Intensive care unit

INR:

International normalized ratio

LOS:

Length of stay

MIMIC-IV:

Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care IV

OASIS:

Oxford acute severity of illness score

PT:

Prothrombin time

PTT:

Partial thromboplastin time

RBC:

Red blood cell

SABIC:

Sample-adjusted information criteria

SIRS:

Systemic inflammatory response syndrome

WBC:

White blood cell

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Funding

This study was supported by the Science and Technology Planning Project of Quanzhou (Grant Numbers 2023C013YR) and the Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University PHD Project Foundation (2021GCC08; 2022BD0803; 2022BD0804; 2024BD1901).

Author information

Author notes
  1. Ping-yu Cai, Wei-ze Lin and Shu-han Chen contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China

    Ping-yu Cai, Shu-han Chen & Hui-li Lin

  2. Department of Cardiology, Fuzhou University Affiliated Provincial Hospital, Fuzhou, Fujian, China

    Wei-ze Lin

  3. Department of Emergency, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, Fujian, China

    Shi-hong Lin

  4. Department of Neurosurgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, Fujian, China

    Bao-ya Yang

  5. Cardiac Function Room, Clinical Oncology School of Fujian Medical University, Fujian Cancer Hospital, Fuzhou, Fujian, China

    Jun-han Chen

Authors
  1. Ping-yu Cai
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  2. Wei-ze Lin
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Contributions

Ping-yu Cai, Wei-ze Lin and Shu-han Chen designed the study. Bao-ya Yang and Shi-hong Lin extracted, collected and analyzed data. Jun-han Chen, Ping-yu Cai, Wei-ze Lin and Hui-li Lin reviewed the results, interpreted data, and wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jun-han Chen or Hui-li Lin.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval

This study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Helsinki Declaration. The MIMIC-IV database ensures patient privacy by de-identifying all personal information and assigning random codes for patient identification. Given the retrospective design and the use of anonymized data, the Ethics Committee of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University granted a waiver for informed consent.

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Supplementary Information

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Supplementary Material 1 (download ZIP )

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Cite this article

Cai, Py., Lin, Wz., Chen, Sh. et al. Synergistic predictive value of dynamic glycemic trajectories and variability metrics for 28-day mortality in critically ill heart failure. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-45217-6

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  • Received: 02 October 2025

  • Accepted: 17 March 2026

  • Published: 31 March 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-45217-6

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Keywords

  • Critically ill heart failure
  • Blood glucose
  • Trajectory
  • 28-day mortality
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