Objective To explore the correlation of serum cystatin C (Cys-C), ischemia-modified albumin (IMA), and retinol-binding protein-4 (RBP4) levels with the severity of coronary artery lesions in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and their prognostic predictive value. Methods A total of 98 AMI patients (study group) admitted between February 2022 and February 2024, and 98 healthy controls recruited from physical examinations during the same period, were enrolled. According to the total Gensini score of coronary angiography, AMI patients were divided into mild, moderate, and severe lesion subgroups. All AMI patients were followed up for 6 months and further classified into good prognosis group and poor prognosis group based on the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events. Serum levels of Cys-C, IMA, and RBP4 were compared among groups. Pearson correlation analysis was used to explore their correlation with total Gensini score. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was applied to evaluate the predictive efficacy of single indicators and their combination for prognosis. Results Serum levels of Cys-C, IMA, and RBP4 on admission in the study group were higher than those in the control group (all P<0.05). Among AMI patients, the above indicators increased gradually with the aggravation of coronary lesions (mild < moderate < severe, all P<0.05), and were positively correlated with total Gensini score (r=0.643, 0.712, 0.685, all P<0.05). The levels of the three indicators on admission in the poor prognosis group (n=21) were higher than those in the good prognosis group (n=77) (all P<0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that the areas under the curve (AUC) of serum levels of Cys-C, IMA, and RBP4 for predicting poor prognosis were 0.787, 0.825, and 0.759, respectively; the combined AUC was 0.923, which was superior to any single indicator. Conclusion Serum Cys-C, IMA, and RBP4 levels are closely correlated with the severity of coronary artery lesions in AMI patients, and have predictive value for poor prognosis; combined detection can improve predictive efficacy, providing a potential serological basis for clinical risk assessment of AMI patients.