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Diabetes and Hyperglycemia in the Critical Care Setting: Has the Evidence for Glycemic Control Vanished? (Or … Is Going Away?)

  • Hospital Management of Diabetes (G Umpierrez, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Hyperglycemia is associated with increased mortality and other complications amongst hospitalized patients. However, the studies of tight glycemic control in a range of critical illness settings, including intensive care, acute myocardial infarction, and stroke, have produced inconsistent and divergent results. We examine some of the factors that may have contributed to the differing results, and their implications for targeting tight glucose control in critical illness. With these in mind, most clinical guidelines now recommend moderate glucose control with an upper glucose target of <10 mmol/L (180 mg/dL) in critical illness while avoiding hypoglycemia.

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Conflict of Interest

A.E. Wagstaff declares that she has no conflict of interest. N.W. Cheung declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article contains studies with human subjects performed by Dr. NW Cheung, who was a chief investigator in the HI-5 and QASC studies, both of which are human studies referred to in this paper. Both studies were approved by Ethics committees and informed consent was obtained from all participants in these studies.

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  1. Dubbo Specialist Medical Centre, Dubbo Base Hospital, Suite 1/77, Myall St, Dubbo, NSW, 2830, Australia

    Amy E. Wagstaff

  2. Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW, 2145, Australia

    N. Wah Cheung

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  1. Amy E. Wagstaff
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Correspondence to N. Wah Cheung.

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Wagstaff, A.E., Cheung, N.W. Diabetes and Hyperglycemia in the Critical Care Setting: Has the Evidence for Glycemic Control Vanished? (Or … Is Going Away?). Curr Diab Rep 14, 444 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-013-0444-2

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