Hyperglycemia During Home Parenteral Nutrition Administration in Patients Without Diabetes

Parenteral nutrition (PN) is a life-sustaining therapy in appropriate clinical settings. In the hospital setting, some nondiabetic patients develop hyperglycemia and subsequently require long-term insulin while receiving PN. Whether similar hyperglycemia is seen in the outpatient setting is unclear.

We studied patients enrolled in the Mayo Clinic Home Parenteral Nutrition (HPN) program between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2012. Patients were excluded if they had diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2), had previously received HPN, had taken corticosteroids, or were at risk for refeeding syndrome.

Of 144 enrolled patients, 93 met inclusion criteria with 39 patients requiring the addition of insulin to HPN. The mean age of the insulin-requiring group (IR) was higher than that of the non-insulin-requiring group (NIR) (60.74 ± 13.62 years vs 48.97 ± 17.62 years, P < .001). There were 17 (44%) men in the IR group and 26 (48%) men in the NIR group. Mean blood glucose at baseline before starting the infusion was 131.82 ± 49.55 mg/dL in IR patients and 106.16 ± 59.01 mg/dL in NIR patients ( P = .03). In the stepwise multivariate analysis for assessing the risk for developing hyperglycemia, HR for age was 1.020 (1.010-1.031), P < .001.

Hyperglycemia is a common finding with the use of PN in both the hospital and ambulatory setting in patients without a previous diagnosis of DM2. Age was the most significant predictor of the requirement of insulin in the present study. When hyperglycemia is managed appropriately with insulin therapy, the long-term complications can be minimized.