title: Fasting hyperglycaemia and in-hospital mortality in elderly population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Admission hyperglycaemia has shown to be a marker of poor clinical outcome. The prevalence of admission hyperglycaemia and its relationship with in-hospital mortality in elderly population has not been clearly defined. We assessed the prevalence and prognostic significance of admission fasting hyperglycaemia in aged patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 808 elderly patients were studied. Patients were classified into group I (serum glucose < 126 mg/dl), II (126-180 mg/dl) and III (> 180 mg/dl). Groups II and III were considered newly recognised fasting hyperglycaemia (NRFH) in non-diabetic patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  NRFH was present in 18.6%. After excluding diabetic patients (n = 206, 25.5%), the distribution of patients (n = 602, 74.5%) was as follows: group I (n = 452, 55.9%), group II (n = 122, 15.1%) and group III (n = 28, 3.5%). In the whole cohort, median fasting glucose was lower in patients who survived [105 mg/dl (88-135)] than in those who died [127 mg/dl (93-159), p < 0.001]. This significant difference was maintained only when non-diabetic patients were considered [100 mg/dl (87-122) vs. 118 mg/dl (92-149), p < 0.001]. In-hospital mortality rate in groups I, II and III was 8.5%, 14.1% and 22.9%, respectively (p < 0.001). Mortality rate was 8.4%, 18.0% and 32.1% (p < 0.001) in groups I, II and III, respectively in non-diabetic population. Both low albumin and high glucose serum concentrations were the only independent risk factors for in-hospital all-cause mortality in non-diabetic patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In non-diabetic elderly patients admitted for acute disease, serum glucose concentration is an important, simple and independent predictor of hospital mortality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, Spain. piglo65@gmail.com
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Iglesias
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Polini
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dardano
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Prado
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Castiglioni
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Guerrero
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tognini
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Macías
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Díez
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Monzani
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005215:Fasting / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D006943:Hyperglycemia / Q000401:mortality*; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology