RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To analyze the influence of diabetes and hyperglycemia on duration of stay in patients hospitalized with congestive heart failure (CHF). METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of data for patients admitted during a 6-month period with CHF to a community teaching hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Patients were divided into diabetic and nondiabetic groups, and patients with diabetes were stratified by mean fasting plasma glucose levels into the following groups: <110 mg/dL, 110 to 180 mg/dL, and >180 mg/dL. The primary outcome was duration of hospitalization. Other variables included sex, age, ejection fraction, admission glucose, brain natriuretic peptide, creatinine, and other comorbidities. RESULTS: The study cohort consisted of 142 patients, 49% of whom had diabetes. The duration of hospitalization was 3.23 days in the patients with diabetes versus 3.11 days in those without diabetes (P = .875). Patients with diabetes were significantly younger (71.8 versus 76.6 years; P = .027) and had a higher baseline mean creatinine level (1.4 versus 1.2 mg/dL; P = .010). Patients with diabetes in the 110 to 180 mg/dL blood glucose group had shorter hospitalizations than did those in the <110 mg/dL group (2.94 versus 3.41 days; P = .259). Only 9 patients had blood glucose levels >180 mg/dL, and these patients had the longest hospitalizations (mean duration, 3.78 days). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of diabetes was higher in our study than in previously published studies of patients with CHF. Although patients with diabetes did not have significantly longer hospitalizations than those without diabetes, they were significantly younger and had higher baseline creatinine values. Hyperglycemia was an infrequent phenomenon among patients without diabetes. The patients with diabetes in the 110 to 180 mg/dL blood glucose group had shorter hospitalizations than did those in the <110 mg/dL group, although this difference did not reach statistical significance. Many of the initial studies of tight glucose control were conducted in the surgical intensive care unit, but recently published evidence has raised doubt about applying these results to medical patients. We conclude that there may be no significant benefit in terms of duration of hospitalization in assigning patients with diabetes who have CHF exacerbations to tight glucose control regimens. A more liberal approach of maintaining glucose levels at 110 to 180 mg/dL may be acceptable.