Epidemiology
Inpatient hyperglycemia is relatively common. With the increase in obesity and diabetes in the general population, it is likely that a growing proportion of patients admitted to the hospital will have hyperglycemia. In one study, hyperglycemia was present in 38% of patients admitted to the hospital (26% with a known history of diabetes; 12% with no history of diabetes before admission).[5] Patients with newly discovered hyperglycemia have been shown to have a significantly higher in-hospital mortality (16%) than patients who have a history of diabetes (3%) or people with normoglycemia (1.7%).[8]
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