Higher mortality in trauma patients is associated with stress-induced hyperglycemia, but not diabetic hyperglycemia: A cross-sectional analysis based on a propensity-score matching approach

Background: Stress-induced hyperglycemia (SIH) is a form of hyperglycemia secondary to stress and commonly occurs in patients with trauma. Trauma patients with SIH have been reported to have an increased risk of mortality. However, information regarding whether these trauma patients with SIH represent a distinct group with differential outcomes when compared to those with diabetic hyperglycemia (DH) remains limited. Methods: Diabetes mellitus (DM) was determined by patient history and/or admission glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) ≥6.5%. Non-diabetic normoglycemia (NDN) was determined by a serum glucose level <200 mg/dL in the patients without DM. Diabetic normoglycemia (DN) was determined by a serum glucose level <200 mg/dL in the patients with DM. DH and SIH was diagnosed by a serum glucose level ≥200 mg/dL in the patients with and without DM, respectively. Detailed data of these four groups of hospitalized patients, which included NDN (n = 7806), DN (n = 950), SIH (n = 493), and DH (n = 897), were retrieved from the Trauma Registry System at a level I trauma center between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2015. Patients with incomplete registered data were excluded. Categorical data were compared with Pearson chi-square tests or two-sided Fisher exact tests. The unpaired Student’s t-test and the Mann-Whitney U-test were used to analyze normally distributed continuous data and non-normally distributed data, respectively. Propensity-score-matched cohorts in a 1:1 ratio were allocated using NCSS software with logistic regression to evaluate the effect of SIH and DH on the outcomes of patients. Results: The SIH (median [interquartile range: Q1-Q3], 13 [9-24]) demonstrated a significantly higher Injury Severity Score (ISS) than NDN (9 [4-10]), DN (9 [4-9]), and DH (9 [5-13]). SIH and DH had a 12.3-fold (95% confidence interval [CI] 9.31-16.14; p < 0.001) and 2.4-fold (95% CI 1.71-3.45; p < 0.001) higher odds of mortality, respectively, when compared to NDN. However, in the selected propensity-score-matched patient population, SIH had a 3.0-fold higher odd ratio of mortality (95% CI 1.96-4.49; p < 0.001) than NDN, but DH did not have a significantly higher mortality (odds ratio 1.2, 95% CI 0.99-1.38; p = 0.065). In addition, SIH had 2.4-fold higher odds of mortality (95% CI 1.46-4.04; p = 0.001) than DH. These results suggest that the characteristics and injury severity of the trauma patients contributed to the higher mortality of these patients with hyperglycemia upon admission, and that the pathophysiological effect of SIH was different from that of DH. Conclusions: Although there were worse mortality outcomes among trauma patients presenting with hyperglycemia, this effect was only seen in patients with SIH, but not DH when controlling for age, sex, pre-existed co-morbidities, and ISS.