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Those
who have high blood sugar at the time a stroke hits are more
likely to die than those with normal blood sugar levels, according
to a study reported in the July 9th issue of Neurology.
Indiana
University School of Medicine researchers drew this conclusion
after analyzing electronic medical records of 656 stroke patients
hospitalized over a five-year period. Over 40 percent of these
stroke patents had high blood sugar levels.
Besides
a higher risk of death, researchers also found that patients
with high blood sugar had longer hospital stays and higher
hospital costs than those with normal blood sugar.
"In
the past, strokes and their devastating outcomes were considered
almost acts of God, a stroke out of the blue," said Dr.
William Tierney, senior author of the study. "Now we
know that they can be prevented, and once they occur, their
consequences can be minimized through the use of thrombolytic
clot-busting drugs."
"This
new study shows that other metabolic abnormalities such as
hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) may also have substantial
effects on outcomes of strokes. I hope this important yet
preliminary study will lead to a controlled trial of tight
blood glucose control among stroke patients with diabetes,"
Tierney continued.
The National
Institutes of Health recently funded Indiana University School
of Medicine neurologists and endocrinologists to conduct a
phase II study of rapid normalization of high blood sugar
at the time of stroke.
"This
treatment is potentially very appealing because it is available
at any hospital and is familiar to all physicians, so it could
be widely used without major changes in the current health
care system." said lead researcher Dr. Linda S. Williams.
Source:
Hypertension
Week of July 14, 2002
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