Diabetes and hyperglycemia in the critical care setting: has the evidence for glycemic control vanished? (Or … is going away?).

Hyperglycemia is associated with increased mortality and other complications amongst hospitalized patients. However, the studies of tight glycemic control in a range of critical illness settings, including intensive care, acute myocardial infarction, and stroke, have produced inconsistent and divergent results. We examine some of the factors that may have contributed to the differing results, and their implications for targeting tight glucose control in critical illness. With these in mind, most clinical guidelines now recommend moderate glucose control with an upper glucose target of <10 mmol/L (180 mg/dL) in critical illness while avoiding hypoglycemia.