Background: Hyperglycemia in surgical candidates is associated with increased mortality and morbidity. We aimed to evaluate the effect of intraoperative blood glucose level on the incidence of myocardial injury after non-cardiac surgery (MINS) in diabetic patients.
Methods: Diabetic patients with available intraoperative blood glucose measurement during non-cardiac surgery were enrolled in this study. Based on the highest intraoperative blood glucose level, patients were stratified into two groups: the blood sugar glucose (BST) < 180 group (intraoperative peak glucose < 180 mg/dL) and BST ≥ 180 group (intraoperative peak glucose ≥ 180 mg/dL). The primary outcome was the incidence of MINS, and secondary outcomes were in-hospital and 30-day mortalities.
Results: Of the 11,302 diabetic patients, 8337 were in the BST < 180 group (73.8%) and 2965 in the BST ≥ 180 group (26.2%). After adjustment with inverse probability weighting, MINS was significantly higher in the BST ≥ 180 group (24.0% vs. 17.2%; odds ratio (OR), 1.26; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.14-1.40; p < 0.001). In addition, in-hospital and 30-day mortalities were also higher in the BST ≥ 180 group compared to the BST < 180 group (4.2% vs. 2.3%, hazard ratio (HR), 1.39; 95% CI, 1.07-1.81; p = 0.001, and 3.1% vs. 1.8%; HR, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.31-2.36; p < 0.001, respectively). Receiver-operating characteristic plots showed that the threshold of glucose level associated with MINS was 149 mg/dL.
Conclusion: Intraoperative hyperglycemia was associated with an increased MINS incidence and postoperative mortality in diabetic patients. Close monitoring of intraoperative blood glucose level may be helpful in detection and management of MINS.
Keywords: cardiac troponin; hyperglycemia; non-cardiac surgery.