Boston, MA - Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) found that diabetics hospitalized for non-critical illnesses who develop hypoglycemia during hospitalization have an increased likelihood of remaining hospitalized longer and a greater risk of mortality both during and after hospitalization. This research appears in the July 2009 issue of Diabetes Care.
Previous research showed an increased risk of mortality, seizures and coma in patients who, while admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), developed hypoglycemia. “Ours is the first study to examine mortality risks for hospitalized diabetes patients outside of a critical care setting,” said Alexander Turchin, MD, of the Endocrinology Department at BWH. “This is crucial because a majority of hospitalized diabetics are treated on the general ward rather than the ICU.”
Researchers examined the medical records of more than 2,500 diabetics admitted to the general ward of a teaching hospital. They studied the association between the number and severity of hypoglycemic episodes with inpatient mortality, length of hospital stay and mortality within one year of discharge.
This study found that for each hospital day with at least one hypoglycemic episode, there was an 85.3 percent increased risk of dying as an inpatient and a 65.8 percent increased risk of dying within one year of discharge. The odds of inpatient death also tripled for every 10 mg/dl decrease in the lowest blood glucose during hospitalization. Additionally, a patient’s length of stay increased by 2.5 days for each day spent in the hospital with a hypoglycemic episode.
“Hypoglycemia is common among diabetics admitted to the general ward,” said Dr. Turchin. “These findings provide support for considering increased monitoring, more aggressive treatment of infections, and transitioning to a more intensive care setting for diabetic patients who have developed hypoglycemia in the general ward.”
The study was funded by grants from the Diabetes Action Research and Education Foundation and the National Library of Medicine.
About Brigham and Women's Hospital:-
Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is a 777-bed nonprofit teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of Partners HealthCare, an integrated health care delivery network. In July of 2008, the hospital opened the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, the most advanced center of its kind. BWH is committed to excellence in patient care with expertise in virtually every specialty of medicine and surgery. The BWH medical preeminence dates back to 1832, and today that rich history in clinical care is coupled with its national leadership in quality improvement and patient safety initiatives and its dedication to educating and training the next generation of health care professionals. Through investigation and discovery conducted at its Biomedical Research Institute (BRI), BWH is an international leader in basic, clinical and translational research on human diseases, involving more than 860 physician-investigators and renowned biomedical scientists and faculty supported by more than $416 M in funding. BWH is also home to major landmark epidemiologic population studies, including the Nurses' and Physicians' Health Studies and the Women's Health Initiative. For more information about BWH, please visit www.brighamandwomens.org.
