Stress induced hyperglycemia in stroke patients

Background: Stroke is the third most common cause of death in developed countries and second most common cause of death worldwide. High proportion of patients may develop hyperglycemia after an acute stress such as stroke or myocardial infarction even in the absence of preexisting diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. Prolonged stress hyperglycemia in ischemic stroke increases the risk of in-hospital 28- day mortality, especially in non-diabetic patients. Aims and objectives:To determine the frequency of stress-induced hyperglycemia in non-diabetic patients with ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke. Subjects and methods: A total of 255 patients admitted with acute stroke, fulfilling the inclusion criteria were included in the study. After informed consent capillary blood glucose was monitored at the time of admission and after every 8-hour for three days. Glycosylated hemoglobin (hba1c) was measured simultaneously. Results: Hyperglycemia was noted in 67 (26.32%) patients. Out of which 50 (74.6%) presented with ischemic stroke while only 17 (25.4%) were associated with hemorrhagic stroke. Undiagnosed diabetes was found in 10% cases. Conclusion: Stress related hyperglycemia after acute stroke was found in 26% of patients especially those with high BMI, visceral obesity and positive family history for diabetes