Stress hyperglycemia in general surgery: Why should we care?

Aims: To determine the frequency of increasing levels of stress hyperglycemia and its associated complications in surgery patients without a history of diabetes.

Methods: We reviewed hospital outcomes in 1971 general surgery patients with documented preoperative normoglycemia [blood glucose (BG) <140mg/dL] who developed stress hyperglycemia (BG >140mg/dL or >180mg/dL) within 48h after surgery between 1/1/2010 and 10/31/2015.

Results: A total of 415 patients (21%) had ≥1 episode of BG between 140 and 180mg/dL and 206 patients (10.5%) had BG>180mg/dL. The median length of hospital stay (LOS) was 9days [interquartile range (IQR) 5,15] for BG between 140 and 180mg/dL and 12days (IQR 6,18) for BG>180mg/dL compared to normoglycemia at 6days (IQR 4,11), both p<0.001. Patients with BG 140-180mg/dL had higher rates of complications with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.68 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.15-2.44], and those with BG>180mg/dL had more complications [OR 3.46 (95% CI 2.24-5.36)] and higher mortality [OR 6.56 (95% CI 2.12-20.27)] compared to normoglycemia.

Conclusion: Increasing levels of stress hyperglycemia are associated with higher rates of perioperative complications and hospital mortality in surgical patients without diabetes.