Background: There is some evidence that hyperglycemia increases the rate of poor outcomes in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). We explored the relationship between various parameters of serum glucose concentrations measured during acute hospitalization and hematoma expansion, perihematomal edema, and three month outcome among subjects with ICH.
Methods: A post-hoc analysis of a multicenter prospective study recruiting subjects with ICH and elevated systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥170 mmHg who presented within 6 h of symptom onset was performed. The serum glucose concentration was measured repeatedly up to 5 times over 3 days after admission and change over time was characterized using a summary statistic by fitting the linear regression model for each subject. The admission glucose, glucose change between admission and 24 hour glucose concentration, and estimated parameters (slope and intercept) were entered in the logistic regression model separately to predict the functional outcome as measured by modified Rankin scale (mRS) at 90 days (0-3 vs. 4-6); hematoma expansion at 24 h (≤33 vs. >33%); and relative perihematomal edema expansion at 24 h (≤40 vs. >40%).
Results: A total of 60 subjects were recruited (aged 62.0 ±15.1 years; 56.7% men). The mean of initial glucose concentration (±standard deviation) was 136.7 mg/dl (±58.1). Thirty-five out of 60 (58%) subjects had a declining glucose over time (negative slope). The risk of poor outcome (mRS 4-6) in those with increasing serum glucose levels was over two-fold relative to those who had declining serum glucose levels (RR = 2.64, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.03, 6.75). The RRs were 2.59 (95% CI: 1.27, 5.30) for hematoma expansion >33%; and 1.25 (95% CI: 0.73, 2.13) for relative edema expansion >40%.
Conclusions: Decline in serum glucose concentration correlated with reduction in proportion of subjects with hematoma expansion and poor clinical outcome. These results provide a justification for a randomized controlled clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of aggressive serum glucose reduction in reducing death and disability among patients with ICH.