The study conducted by researchers at Penn State College of Medicine and the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pa., analyzed the data of nearly 12,500 diabetic patients with the same number of nondiabetic patients at 27 local trauma centers from an 18-year period. All the patients had suffered a traumatic injury.
The diabetics were nine percent more likely to suffer from complications in comparison with those patients who did not have diabetes.
Other comparisons found that diabetics needed to stay in the intensive care unit by 1.5 more days.
The diabetic patient was also more likely to require intensive care by 2.5 percent.
Diabetics were also slightly likelier to require ventilatory assistance by 2.4 days.
When comparing the rate of infections, diabetics were five percent more likely to develop an infection than the nondiabetic patient.
The diabetic was also less likely to be discharged before the nondiabetic, in addition to being more likely to require follow-up home care by a skilled nurse.
However, there were no differences found when comparing the overall length of hospital stay and death rates of the patients with and without diabetes.
The authors of the study concluded that trauma patients being treated who have diabetes experience more complications because of their initial disease, which results in longer intensive care unit stay, increased ventilatory support and more overall associated side effects.
The study published by Rehan Ahmed, DO and colleagues appears in the July issue of the Archives of Surgery medical journal.
