ABSTRACT
Objective To dynamically monitor the blood glucose in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients within three days after admission, and to assess the impact of hyperglycemia on prognosis. Method Between 2007 and 2008, 62 TBI patients, who were admitted within 6 hours after the ineidence of injury without diahetes or severe combined injuries, were involved in this study. Blood glucose was monitored at 4 time points (instantly, 24 hours, 48 hours, and 72 hours after admission). Patients were classified into the mild, the moderate, or the se-vere TBI group according to GCS (Glasgow Coma Scale) scores, being classified into the survival or the dead group according to prognosis, or into the mile or severe hyperglycemia group depending on whether the blood glucose ex-ceeds 11.1mmol/L on admission. T tests and χ2 tests were applied to analyze the relationship among blood glucose levels, the degrees of injury, and the prognosis of studied patients. Results Patients with mild, moderate, or se-vere TBI showed hyperglycemia with different levels, and the blood glucose levels was consistent with the degree of the injury. The blood glucose of the patients in the dead group were significantly higher at all checked time points than those of the survival group, particularly instantly after admission (8.51±2.01 mmol/L vs. 11.54±2.45 mmol/L, P=0.0001, t=4.988). The mortality of patients with severe hyperglycemia was 64.71%, signifl-candy higher than that of the mild hyperglycemia group 13.95% (P=0.0002, χ2=15.46). The Intensive Care Unit Length of Stay (ICULOS) of the above two groups was 22.6 and 10.2 days,respectively (P=0.021, t= 3.216), but their hospital length of stay (HLOS) showed no statistical difference (P=0.052). Conclusions Hyperglycemia, as an early stress response to TBI, may reflect the degree of the injury. Blood glucose levels that exceed 11.1 mmol/L on admission may imply high mortality of TBI patients, so this could be used as a simple indi-cator to predict prognosis.