Hyperglycemia in pediatric head trauma patients: a cross-sectional study.
To verify the prevalence of acute hyperglycemia in children with head trauma stratified by the Glasgow coma scale (GCS).



A prospective cross-sectional study carried out with information from medical records of pediatric patients presenting with head injury in the emergency room of a referral emergency hospital during a one year period. We considered the cut-off value of 150 mg/dL to define hyperglycemia.



A total of 340 children were included and 60 (17.6%) had admission hyperglycemia. Hyperglycemia was present in 9% of mild head trauma cases; 30.4% of those with moderate head trauma and 49% of severe head trauma. We observed that among children with higher blood glucose levels, 85% had abnormal findings on cranial computed tomography scans.



Hyperglycemia was more prevalent in patients with severe head trauma (GCS <8), regardless if they had or not multiple traumas and in children with abnormal findings on head computed tomography scans.
Melo
José Roberto Tude
JR
Post-Graduation Program in Medicine, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brazil. robertotude@gmail.com
Reis
Rodolfo Casimiro
RC
Lemos
Laudenor Pereira
LP
Coelho
Henrique Miguel Santos
HM
Almeida
Carlos Eduardo Romeu de
CE
Oliveira-Filho
Jamary
J
D000208:Acute Disease; D002648:Child; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006943:Hyperglycemia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed