Diabetes Status Matters for Surgical Risk Assessment

Elective surgeries may carry different risks based on patients’ glycemic status rather than just diabetes diagnosis.

  • In a study of over 2 million hospitalizations, 9.16% of patients with diabetes and hyperglycemia had major adverse events, compared to 5.31% without diabetes.
  • Patients with diabetes without hyperglycemia had a modest increased risk (5.85%) with a number needed to harm of 183.
  • Clinically recognized hyperglycemia significantly increases perioperative risk (aOR 2.00) and should be prioritized in risk stratification for elective surgeries.

Journal Article by Kim S, Saad B (…) Wong MS et 2 al. in J Am Coll Surg

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