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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Wild fluctuations in blood sugar levels have been found to decrease the chances of survival for critically ill patients.
According to researchers in Saudi Arabia, patients with high glycemic variability were 12 percent more likely to die while in the hospital recovering from a critical illness. They were also more likely to develop nosocomial infections -- infections which are a result of treatment in a hospital or a healthcare service unit, but secondary to the patients original condition.
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High blood sugar has been shown to play a role in diabetic complications, but this study is the first to evaluate how fluctuations in the glucose levels affect outcomes in critically ill patients.
This research may lead to further research that changes our focus from only treating high blood glucose to also minimizing changes in glycemic levels, lead researcher Hasan M. Al-Dorzi, M.D., was quoted as saying.
The team found three predictors of glycemic variability -- age, diabetes history and whether blood sugar was controlled by insulin.
Dr. Al-Dozi suggested that this research could lead to a definition of high glycemic variability and to the development of ways of continuous monitoring of blood sugar and insulin dosing as needed.
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SOURCE: American Thoracic Societys 2008 International Conference in Toronto, May 16-21, 2008
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
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