Frequency and Mortality Associated with Hyperglycemia in Critically Ill Children.

OBJECTIVE To determine the frequency of hyperglycemia in critically ill children admitted in PICU of a tertiary care hospital of Karachi and to compare the mortality of critically ill children with and without hyperglycemia. STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Paediatrics Intensive Care Unit (PICU) of National Institute of Child Health (NICH), Karachi, from November 2011 to April 2012. METHODOLOGY One hundred fifty critically ill children admitted to PICU were included. Patients who had fasting blood sugar levels more than 126 mg/dl within 48 hours of admission were included in the hyperglycemic group. The normoglycemic and hyperglycemic groups were followed till 10 days to determine the mortality associated with hyperglycemia. RESULTS Out of 150 patients, 82 (54.7%) had hyperglycemia. Mortality rate was 48.7% (n=73/150). However, mortality rate was significantly high 57.3% (n=47) in hyperglycemic patients than non-hyperglycemic patients (p=0.019). CONCLUSION The presence of stress-induced hyperglycemia in critically ill patients is a well established marker of poor outcome, and a very high mortality rate. Normoglycemia was associated with favorable outcomes in terms of hospital stay and mortality.