Having higher than usual blood sugar levels at the time of hospital admission for an ischemic stroke significantly increases the risk of a poor functional prognosis or death within three months of the stroke. This is the main conclusion of a study by the Endocrinology and Nutrition Services and the Neurology Department of Hospital del Mar, with researchers from the hospital's Research Institute, the RICORS-ICTUS network, and the CIBER of Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Diseases (CIBERDEM). The study is published in the journal Cardiovascular Diabetology and will continue with further studies to determine the utility of this factor in treating patients with this pathology.
It is known that the inflammatory state in certain diseases can cause increased blood sugar levels, or hyperglycemia, which can influence prognosis. In the case of ischemic stroke, this increase is common, but it has not been analyzed in depth. The Hospital del Mar study delves into this issue, reviewing data from 2,774 patients with this condition.
Besides blood sugar levels at the time of admission and their comparison with each patient's usual levels, other variables were considered, such as age, diabetes, disability, stroke severity, and treatment received. Considering these variables, higher blood glucose levels compared to usual were confirmed as a factor for worse functional prognosis and mortality three months after the stroke, independently of other factors. An increase of just 13% above usual lev.