Early glycemic control in critically ill patients with burn injury

Glucose management in patients with burn injury is often difficult because of their hypermetabolic state with associated hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and insulin resistance. Recent studies suggest that time to glycemic control is associated with improved outcomes. The authors sought to determine the influence of early glycemic control on the outcomes of critically ill patients with burn injury. A retrospective analysis was performed at the Ohio State University Medical Center. Patients hospitalized with burn injury were enrolled if they were admitted to the intensive care unit between March 1, 2006, and February 28, 2009. Early glycemic control was defined as the achievement of a mean daily blood glucose of ≤150 mg/dl for at least two consecutive days by postburn day 3. Forty-six patients made up the study cohort with 26 achieving early glycemic control and 20 who did not. The two groups were similar at baseline with regard to age, pre-existing diabetes, APACHE II score and burn size and depth. There were no differences in number of surgical interventions, infectious complications, or length of stay between patients who achieved or failed early glycemic control. Failure of early glycemic control was, however, associated with significantly higher mortality both by univariate (35.0 vs 7.7%, P = .03) and multivariate analyses (hazard ratio 6.754 [1.16-39.24], P = .03) adjusting for age, TBSA, and inhalation injury. Failure to achieve early glycemic control in patients with burn injury is associated with an increased risk of mortality. However, further prospective controlled trials are needed to establish causality of this association.