Method Inform Med
-
Despite the wide use of blood glucose management guidelines in intensive care (IC), hyperglycemia is still common. The aim of this study was the discovery of possible hyperglycemia determinants by applying the Patient Rule Induction Method (PRIM) to routinely collected data within the first 24 hours of admission, and to relate them to the literature. ⋯ We demonstrated for the first time the utility of using subgroup discovery to uncover possible determinants for non-responsiveness to treatment. This implies the possible use of this technology to scrutinize the effects of various guidelines in clinical medicine on patient outcomes without requiring the development of a global predictive model. We hypothesize that by focusing on the identified subgroups, clinical guidelines may be improved. Further research is required to test this hypothesis.