Normal Glucose Values Are Associated With a Lower Risk of Mortality in Hospitalized Patients

OBJECTIVE—Hyperglycemia is a common condition in hospitalized patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between glycemia upon admission and mortality in a heterogeneous group of adult patients. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—The 3-year records released from a general hospital were associated with a plasma glucose dataset of its general laboratory. A matched case-control study was implemented (3,338 case-control subject pairs). All-patient refined diagnosis–related groups and the relative risk of death were the matching criteria. A multivariate conditional logistic regression model was used to evaluate the associations between death and glycemia. RESULTS—Higher in-hospital mortality was associated with hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia, whereas lower risk was observed for values between 78 and 101 mg/dl. CONCLUSIONS—Our data confirm the relation between glycemia upon admission and mortality and suggest that slightly increased or decreased plasma glucose can be linked with increased mortality risk.