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.