Blood glucose levels should be considered as a new vital sign indicative of prognosis during hospitalization
Measurement of blood glucose is a well-established factor of concern when treating an individual with diabetes. On the other hand, there is no knowledge about the importance of blood glucose measurement in the prognosis of non-diabetic and hospitalized patients. Jothydev Kesavadev and colleagues conducted a study published in the Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews under the title “Blood glucose levels should be considered as a new vital sign indicative of prognosis during hospitalization”. The summary of this article is given below:
Objective:
To highlight the importance of blood glucose levels in consideration to overall health, specifically in non-diabetic individuals.
Method:
A systematic search of literature published for non-diabetic individuals in the electronic databases, PubMed and Google Scholar was selected using keywords such as blood glucose, hospital admissions, hospitalizations, critical illness, cardiovascular disease (CVD), morbidity, and mortality.
Findings:
Previous studies indicate that blood glucose in the upper normal range and in the prediabetes range is linked with multiple adverse health outcomes such as higher chances of sepsis and infection during hospital visits, ICU admissions, and high risk of cardiovascular diseases. After adjusting for cofounders including age, sex, comorbidities, and disease severity scores, investigators found an average blood glucose range of 110-140 mg/dL, a minimum blood glucose range between 80-110 mg/dL, and a maximum blood glucose range of 110-140 mg/dL was associated with the decreased risk of hospital mortality and better prognosis in patients without diabetes. Investigators suggest that blood glucose measurements should be conducted in all hospitalized patients and it should be considered as the fifth vital sign. Additionally, variation in blood glucose must be taken into consideration for treatment protocol in an effort to decrease mortality in individuals without diabetes.
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