Glycosylated Hemoglobin as a Predictor of Sepsis and All-Cause Mortality in Trauma Patients

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Infection is a common comorbidity and cause of death in emergency trauma patients, especially in diabetic patients. Once the patients are admitted, they are more susceptible to further complications like sepsis and resultant increase in in-hospital mortality. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate risk factors associated with sepsis after trauma and death in trauma patients. METHODS: A total of 397 trauma patients were divided into 2 groups according to HbA1c level, HbA1c: <6.5% (n = 259), HbA1c: >6.5% (n = 138), and baseline clinical characteristics were collected. The independent risk factors of sepsis associated with trauma were screened using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to investigate risk factors for 30-day all-cause mortality. RESULTS: The sepsis incidence (76.1% vs 35.9%, P<0.001) and mortality rate (29.7% vs 7.3%, P<0.001) were significantly higher in HbA1c>6.5% group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the independent risk factors of sepsis after trauma were diabetes (OR: 3.1, 95% CI: 1.41–6.79), hypertension (OR: 2.55, 95% CI: 1.35–4.82), coagulation disorder (OR: 3.45, 95% CI: 1.23–9.67), creatinine (OR: 3.71, 95% CI: 1.66–8.31), urea nitrogen (OR: 0.96, 95% CI: 0.92–0.99), HbA1c%>6.5 (OR: 2.05, 95% CI: 1.65–2.54), increase in body mass index (OR: 1.08, 95% CI: 1.03–1.13) and lower initial GCS score (OR: 0.93, 95% CI: 0.88–0.99). Multivariable Cox proportional hazard analysis revealed that male (HR: 1.94, 95% CI: 1.21–3.12), HbA1c >6.5% (HR: 1.45, 95% CI: 1.32–1.6), albumin (HR: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.34–0.86), creatinine (HR: 1.02, 95% CI: 1.01–1.03), APTT (HR: 1.02, 95% CI: 1.01–1.03), SOFA score (HR: 1.2, 95% CI: 1.1–1.31), age >65 years (HR: 3.21, 95% CI: 1.95–5.3) were independent risk factor for trauma patients’ mortality. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of sepsis and mortality was higher in trauma patients with HbA1c >6.5%. HbA1c was independent risk factor for sepsis and all cases of mortality in trauma patients.