Hyperglycemia and length of stay in patients hospitalized for bone marrow transplantation.

H yperglycemia has been shown to be associated with increased mortality and morbidity and prolonged hospital stay in inpatients (1–4). This association has been established for several conditions including cardiac surgery, acute myocardial infarction, stroke, trauma, burns, pneumonia, and critical illness (5–10). Good glycemic control has been shown to decrease length of stay (LOS) and save hospitalization costs (11,12). In randomized controlled trials of critically ill patients, the beneficial effects of good glycemic control were most prominent in those with longer hospitalizations and no previous history of diabetes (13). Patients hospitalized for bone marrow transplantation (BMT) tend to be critically ill and have prolonged hospital stays. To our knowledge, there have been no previous reports that describe the relationship between blood glucose levels and LOS in patients admitted for BMT. This study was performed to establish the relationship between blood glucose and LOS in nondiabetic patients electively admitted for BMT.