• Eliotte Hirshberg, Gitte Larsen, and Heather Van Duker.
• Department of Pediatrics, Division of Critical Care, University of Utah, Primary Children's Medical Center, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. ellie.hirshberg@hsc.utah.edu
• Pediatr Crit Care Me. 2008 Jul 1;9(4):361-6.

ObjectivesCritically ill patients with alterations in glucose equilibrium may experience adverse outcomes. We sought to describe the distribution of blood glucose values in the absence of insulin therapy and to evaluate the association of hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia, and glucose variability with mortality and morbidity of critically ill children.DesignRetrospective cohort analysis.SettingUniversity-affiliated children's hospital pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).PatientsAll children admitted to the PICU for >24 hrs with at least one blood glucose level recorded from a 1-yr period. Patients were excluded if >18 yrs of age, if insulin was administered during their PICU stay, and if the PICU admitting diagnosis included diabetes mellitus or hypoglycemia.InterventionsNone.Measurements And Main ResultsPatients were categorized with isolated hyperglycemia (blood glucose >or=150 mg/dL, [>or=8.3 mmol/L]), isolated hypoglycemia (blood glucose ConclusionsWe found a relationship between blood glucose level and PICU patient outcomes. The relationship is similar to that found in adults and raises the question whether attention to control of blood glucose will improve outcomes in critically ill children.

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