Preoperative Insulin Intensification to Improve Day of Surgery Blood Glucose Control.

BACKGROUND

Guidelines offer varying recommendations for preoperative long-acting basal insulin dosing, despite mounting evidence of the advantages of maintaining perioperative glucose levels between 80 and 180 mg/dL.

OBSERVATIONS

We iteratively adjusted health care practitioner (HCP) instructions to intensify insulin dosing on the evening before surgery for 195 consecutive patients with diabetes mellitus treated with long-acting basal insulin with an evening dosage. Baseline data was collected in phase 1. In phase 2, the preoperative insulin dose on the evening before surgery was increased for patients with hemoglobin A (HbA) > 8%; in phase 3, it was increased for patients with HbA ≤ 8% while sustaining the phase 2 change. Increased preoperative insulin doses did not change the rates of day of surgery (DOS) hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia. Overall, HCP adherence to the modified protocols was high (89%). A decline in HCP adherence after phase 2 protocol change was associated with a transient increase in DOS hyperglycemia. Patient adherence to preoperative medication instructions was high (86%) and was not affected by protocol changes.

CONCLUSIONS

Preoperative insulin intensification the evening before surgery did not change rates of DOS hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia. HCP adherence decreased transiently, which briefly increased DOS hyperglycemia rates in some patients. Perioperative hyperglycemia, defined as blood glucose levels ≥ 180 mg/dL in the immediate pre- and postoperative period, is associated with increased postoperative morbidity, including infections, preoperative interventions, and in-hospital mortality.1-3 Despite being identified as a barrier to optimal perioperative glycemic control, limited evidence is available on patient or health care practitioner (HCP) adherence to preoperative insulin protocols.4-6.