Admission Blood Glucose in the Emergency Department is Associated with Increased In-Hospital Mortality in Nontraumatic Critically Ill Patients

Acidosis as a promising early indicator of mortality among point-of-care parameters and vital signs in non-traumatic critically ill patients

BACKGROUND

The management of critically ill patients, arriving at the emergency department (ED), requires structured care in critical care facilities, particularly in the resuscitation room. This study examines the significance of initial vital signs and blood gas analysis (BGA)-derived values as clinically useful early indicators of mortality risk in critically ill patients, both during in the resuscitation room care and within the following 30 days, with a focus on evaluating the individual predictive performance of accessible clinical parameters.

METHODS

We pooled data from two consecutive retrospective observational studies in a German university ED to analyze an unselected patient population of non-traumatic critically ill patients. Vital signs, such as heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and BGA values (including pH, bicarbonate, carbon dioxide, glucose, lactate, electrolyte levels) on admission to the ED, were used to estimate the impact on both resuscitation room and 30-day mortality.

RESULTS

In 1,536 critically ill patients, pH, lactate and bicarbonate were found to be potential predictors of resuscitation room mortality. In contrast, vital signs showed limited reliability in predicting outcomes. Of all tested variables, pH demonstrated the highest area under the curve (AUC) value among the analyzed markers for resuscitation room mortality (AUC 0.81 [95% CI 0.75-0.87]). However, the AUC of pH for 30-day mortality decreased to 0.64 ([0.6 - 0.68], indicating a complex interplay of factors influencing long-term outcome. A subgroup analysis based on pH showed a substantial increase in resuscitation room and 30-day mortality for patients with a pH below 7.2 as well as a second increase below 7.0.

CONCLUSION

Our study highlights important parameters for the assessment of critically ill patients at ED admission that are helpful for formulating immediate medical decisions. Acidosis on the initial BGA appears to be a relevant prognostic marker for mortality in critically ill, non-traumatic patients and may aid in early risk assessment, regardless of the underlying condition. Early detection of acidosis could facilitate rapid decision-making and timely identification of patients requiring intensive care.

The Potential Diagnostic and Predictive Role of HbA1c in Diabetic, Septic Patients: A Retrospective Single-Center Study

Background

As diabetes mellitus is a major risk factor of sepsis, we aimed to evaluate the possible effects of diabetes mellitus and poor glycemic control on the diagnosis of sepsis.

Methods

In our retrospective study, we included diabetic, septic patients-in whom the diagnosis of sepsis was based on the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria (n = 112, SIRS group)-who had HbA1c levels measured either in the previous 30 days (n = 39, SIRS 30 d subgroup) or within 24 hours after their emergency department admission (n = 73, SIRS 24 h subgroup). We later selected those patients from the SIRS group, whose sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score was ≥2 (n = 55, SOFA group), and these patients were also divided based on the time of HbA1c measurement (n = 21, SOFA 30 d subgroup and n = 34, SOFA 24 h subgroup). We analyzed the relationship between laboratory parameters, length of hospital stay, and HbA1c.

Results

We found a significant positive correlation between glucose and HbA1c (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, respectively), significant negative correlations between white blood cell count (WBC) and glucose (p=0.01, p=0.02, respectively), WBC and HbA1c levels (p=0.001, p=0.02, respectively) in the SIRS 24 h and SOFA 24 h subgroups. Furthermore, there was a significant positive correlation between length of hospital stay and HbA1c in the SOFA 24 h subgroup (p=0.01). No significant correlations were found in the SIRS 30 d and SOFA 30 d subgroups.

Conclusion

Based on our results, normal WBC with elevated HbA1c might be considered a positive SIRS criterium in diabetic, SIRS 24 h patients. Besides this potential diagnostic role, HbA1c might also be an additional prognostic biomarker in diabetic, SOFA 24 h patients.