Stress Hyperglycemia in Patients with Sepsis
Pitiporn Rattanataweeboon MD*, Warakarn Vilaichone MD*, Sathit Vannasaeng MD*
Affiliation : * Divisions of Endocrinology and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
Background : Patients with acute stress from stroke or myocardial infarction may develop hyperglycemia,
even in the absence of diabetes mellitus. Stress hyperglycemia increases morbidity and mortality in these
patients. There has been no study to evaluate stress hyperglycemia in patients with sepsis.
Material and Method: A prospective cohort study in patients with sepsis admitted in the Department of
Medicine of Siriraj Hospital during 2006-2007 was done. Data were collected on admission blood glucose,
HbA1c and other factors which may predict the outcomes of sepsis.
Results : Data were collected from 70 patients with sepsis. The prevalence of stress hyperglycemia was 42.3%
in this study. We found no differences in clinical findings, laboratories, interventions and outcomes between
groups of stress and non-stress hyperglycemia. Multivariate analysis showed that only APACHE II score and
use of a mechanical ventilator were associated with mortality.
Conclusion : The prevalence of stress hyperglycemia in patients with sepsis was high. We cannot conclude that
stress hyperglycemia did not affect the mortality and morbidity outcome mainly because of the small number
of subjects which may be not enough to detect statistical significance.
Keywords : Hyperglycemia, Sepsis, Stress, Physiological
