• Marc G Jeschke, Ruxandra Pinto, David N Herndon, Celeste C Finnerty, and Robert Kraft.
• 1Ross Tilley Burn Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. 2Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. 3Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. 4TECC Program Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. 5Shriners Hospitals for Children and University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX. 6Department of Surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX. 7Sealy Center for Molecular Medicine and the Institute for Translational Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX.
• Crit. Care Med. 2014 May 1; 42 (5): 1221-31.

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of hypoglycemia after burn injury and whether hypoglycemia is associated with increased postburn morbidity and mortality.DesignCohort analysis.SettingAcademic pediatric burn hospital.PatientsThis analysis included 760 pediatric burn patients, who were stratified according the number of hypoglycemic episodes (< 60 mg/dL glucose) they experienced while in the ICU. Clinical outcomes and metabolic and inflammatory biomarkers were analyzed during the first 60 days post admission. Patients with one or more hypoglycemic events were matched with patients not experiencing any event using propensity score matching, and outcomes and biomarker expression were compared between groups.Measurements And Main ResultsEighty-four patients had one episode of hypoglycemia, 108 patients had two or more episodes of hypoglycemia, and 568 patients never experienced hypoglycemia. Patients with one or more hypoglycemic episodes had longer hospitalization, as well as more frequent infections, sepsis, multiple organ failure, and death (p < 0.05). The 166 propensity score-matched patients with one or more hypoglycemic events had greater inflammatory and metabolic responses, prevalence of sepsis, multiple organ failure, and mortality than burn patients without hypoglycemic (p < 0.05).ConclusionsHypoglycemic episodes correlate with injury severity and inhalation injury. When adjusted for injury severity, hypoglycemia is associated with significantly higher postburn morbidity and mortality.

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