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24-06-2018 | Hypoglycemia | ADA 2018 | News

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Post-CABG hypoglycemia may predict long-term mortality

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medwireNews: Patients who experience hypoglycemia during intensive insulin therapy after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery may be at increased risk for dying during the next year, suggests research presented at the ADA’s 78th Scientific Sessions.

The effect of hypoglycemia was so strong that traditional risk factors had a significant effect on mortality only among patients whose blood glucose had remained at 70 mg/dL or above.

The overall mortality rate among the 2008 patients (average age 63.6 years)  in the study was 5.7%, which Lucas Heller (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pennsylvania, USA) told conference attendees in Orlando, Florida, is “on par with international averages.”

The mortality rate among patients with no hypoglycemia episodes was 3.7%, compared with 7.0% for those with just one episode of blood glucose below 70 mg/dL and 14.9% among those with two episodes. And 39.5% of patients who had two episodes of blood glucose below 40 mg/dL died within 1 year of undergoing CABG.

The associations were independent of patient demographics, CABG factors, and Cleveland Clinical Severity Score, although in response to a question from the audience, Heller conceded that he could not rule out a confounding effect of patient frailty.

By Eleanor McDermid

medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare. © 2018 Springer Healthcare part of the Springer Nature group

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