Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21787410›Full record

ArticleCritical care (London, England)2011

Mild hypoglycemia is independently associated with increased mortality in the critically ill.

James S Krinsley, Marcus J Schultz, Peter E Spronk, Robin E Harmsen, Floris van Braam Houckgeest, Johannes P van der Sluijs, Christian Mélot, Jean Charles Preiser

Open access · goldAbstract readMulticenter Study
In one paragraph

Article in Critical care (London, England), 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 73 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
73citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
8.8field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

73 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 179 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  11. Association of Glycemic Variability with Outcomes in Non-diabetic Sepsis Patients: A Prospective Observational Study.Indian journal of critical care medicine : peer-reviewed, official publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine · 2025
    Article
  12. Incidence and outcomes of early hyperglycaemia in critically ill patients.The Southern African journal of critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Society · 2025
    Article
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  16. Prognostic Value of Serum Glucose Level in Critically Ill Septic Patients on Admission to Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.Indian journal of critical care medicine : peer-reviewed, official publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine · 2023
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13 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.

James S KrinsleyDivision of Critical Care, Stamford Hospital, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, 190 West Broad Street, Stamford, CT 06902, USA. james.krinsley@gmail.com
Marcus J Schultz
Peter E Spronk
Robin E Harmsen
Floris van Braam Houckgeest
Johannes P van der Sluijs
Christian Mélot
Jean Charles Preiser
Academic Medical Center · NLErasmus Hospital · BEMedisch Centrum Haaglanden · NLStamford Hospital · USTergooi · NLUniversity of Amsterdam · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionSevere hypoglycemia (blood glucose concentration (BG) < 40 mg/dL) is independently associated with an increased risk of mortality in critically ill patients. The association of milder hypoglycemia (BG < 70 mg/dL) with mortality is less clear.

methodsProspectively collected data from two observational cohorts in the USA and in The Netherlands, and from the prospective GLUCONTROL trial were analyzed. Hospital mortality was the primary endpoint.

resultsWe analyzed data from 6,240 patients: 3,263 admitted to Stamford Hospital (ST), 2,063 admitted to three institutions in The Netherlands (NL) and 914 who participated in the GLUCONTROL trial (GL). The percentage of patients with hypoglycemia varied from 18% to 65% among the different cohorts. Patients with hypoglycemia experienced higher mortality than did those without hypoglycemia even after stratification by severity of illness, diagnostic category, diabetic status, mean BG during intensive care unit (ICU) admission and coefficient of variation (CV) as a reflection of glycemic variability. The relative risk (RR, 95% confidence interval) of mortality associated with minimum BG < 40, 40 to 54 and 55 to 69 mg/dL compared to patients with minimum BG 80 to 109 mg/dL was 3.55 (3.02 to 4.17), 2.70 (2.31 to 3.14) and 2.18 (1.87 to 2.53), respectively (all P < 0.0001). The RR of mortality associated with any hypoglycemia < 70 mg/dL was 3.28 (2.78 to 3.87) (P < 0.0001), 1.30 (1.12 to 1.50) (P = 0.0005) and 2.11 (1.62 to 2.74) (P < 0.0001) for the ST, NL and GL cohorts, respectively. Multivariate regression analysis demonstrated that minimum BG < 70 mg/dL, 40 to 69 mg/dL and < 40 mg/dL were independently associated with increased risk of mortality for the entire cohort of 6,240 patients (odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval (CI)) 1.78 (1.39 to 2.27) P < 0.0001), 1.29 (1.11 to 1.51) P = 0.0011 and 1.87 (1.46 to 2.40) P < 0.0001) respectively.

conclusionsMild hypoglycemia was associated with a significantly increased risk of mortality in an international cohort of critically ill patients. Efforts to reduce the occurrence of hypoglycemia in critically ill patients may reduce mortality.

Indexed as

AgedAged, 80 and overBlood GlucoseCaliforniaCohort StudiesCritical IllnessHospital MortalityHumansHypoglycemiaMiddle AgedNetherlandsProspective StudiesSeverity of Illness IndexBlood Glucose

Identifiers

PMID21787410
PMCPMC3387616
OpenAlexW2168718820

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.