Editorial 2005 Research Workshop Hyperglycemia, Nutrition Support, and Acute Illness

The impact of short-term hyperglycemia on morbid-ity and mortality of hospitalized patients has gained significant attention from clinicians since the land-mark prospective, randomized clinical trial by van den Berghe et al,1 which demonstrated dramatic improve-ments in morbidity and mortality in critically ill sur-gical patients with improved glycemic control (80–110 mg/dL) compared to historically accepted glucose tar-gets (180–200 mg/dL). Stress-induced hyperglycemia is a common phenomenon often observed in acutely ill patient populations due to impairments in insulin-me-diated glucose uptake in the skeletal muscle, and fail-ure of insulin to suppress hepatic gluconeogenesis.2 Parenteral nutrition (PN) is frequently a component of care for these patients and, because of its appreciabl