Background : Stress hyperglycemia among patients having an acute pathology is frequently described in recent studies.
Aims: The objectives of this work were to describe epidemiologic features of elderly patients hospitalized in the emergency department and having a hyperglycemia due to stress.
Methods: A retrospective chart review identified patients older than 65 years with obtained serum glucose levels. Patients with diabetes were excluded. Two levels of serum glucose were considered (>6,9 mmol/l and ≤ 6,9 mmol/l).
Results: We included 165. There were 94 patients with high level of serum glucose level (56,9%). Multivariate analysis found that only cardio-vascular pathologies were more predictive of having stress hyperglycemia (p=0,014, odds-ratio=2,8, IC=1,2-6,4). There were no correlation between serum glucose levels and mortality.
Conclusion: Stress hyperglycemia is a fairly common disorder but underestimated in emergency department. Its impact on the prognosis of elderly patients remains to be studied.