Association between admission hyperglycemia and length of stay after renal transplantation

To compare length of stay, readmissions, infections, and mortality in patients with end-stage renal disease who have been admitted to receive renal transplant, stratified according to diabetes status and admission glucose concentration.

We conducted a retrospective analysis of all adult patients who underwent renal transplant at an academic center during 2006. Patients were stratified according to diabetes status before transplant and glucose concentration at hospital admission (hyperglycemic [> 180 mg/dL] or normoglycemic [≤ = 180 mg/dL]). The groups were compared with respect to length of stay, number of readmissions during the 2-year period after transplant, infections, and mortality.

Ninety-eight patients underwent renal transplant during the study period, and 11 were excluded because of incomplete data. Thus, 87 patients were included. There was a trend towards greater length of stay and higher mortality in patients with known diagnosis of diabetes. When stratified according to glucose concentration at admission, patients with hyperglycemia had a significantly longer length of stay than normoglycemic patients (10 ± 4.3 days vs 7.9 ± 2.9; P = .039), even after correcting for diabetes status.

Hyperglycemia at hospital admission, rather than a known diagnosis of diabetes, is associated with increased length of stay in patients admitted for renal transplant.