Conditions: Hyperglycemias
Keywords: Hyperglycaemia algorithm emergency s.c. insulin therapy Emergency patient
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 130
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The aim of this study is to test the safety and efficacy of a new algorithm for intensive s.c. insulin injection in medical emergency patients with hyperglycaemia (plasma glucose concentration ≥ 8 mmol/l)

Detailed description:
BACKGROUND: Prospective randomized trials have shown that near-normoglycemic blood glucose control using insulin infusions achieves a significant reduction in mortality of severely ill patients in intensive care units, of patients with acute myocardial infarction and with stroke. This implies that most severely ill patients with hyperglycemia should be treated with insulin to reach near-normoglycemia. However, this is not common practice today in emergency room admissions outside the intensive care unit, and strategies to achieve near-normoglycemia safely outside the ICU setting with s.c. injections (insulin infusions are too risky outside the ICU) have not been established.

AIM: To evaluate an insulin therapy algorithm using s.c. injections which permits effective and safe glycemic management of emergency room patients with hyperglycemia.

DESIGN: Randomized, controlled trial with an open intervention. Patients presenting with hyperglycemia on admission to the emergency room are randomized 1:1 either to conventional treatment (conventional insulin group) or to intensive treatment (intensive insulin group).

METHODS: 140 patients admitted to the medical emergency rooms of the University Hospital Basel and the Regional Hospital of Solothurn will be included and randomized as described above. All patients with plasma glucose levels exceeding 8.0 mmol/l will be included.

Exclusion criteria include severely immunocompromised patients, patients in shock, patients with terminal illnesses on palliative care, type 1 diabetes with or without ketoacidosis and patients which require intensive care unit (ICU) or cardial care unit (CCU) therapy.

PRIMARY ENDPOINT: Time in the glycaemic target range (5.5-7.0 mmol/l) during the period of observation of 48 hours (expected to be longer in the intensive insulin group)

SECONDARY ENDPOINTS: Time to reach the target range. Frequency of hypoglycaemia (plasma glucose \< 3.8 mmol/l). Frequency of severe hypoglycaemia (plasma glucose \< 2.5 mmol/l. Frequency of hypokalaemia.

Arms:
arm 1: Conventional insulin group:

In the conventional insulin group only the meal-glucose adapted sliding scale at beginning is pre-determined. All adaptations of the insulin sliding scale remain upon the discretion of the treating physician. arm 2: Intensive insulin therapy algorithm:

The algorithm in the intensive insulin group contains four insulin resistance factors, depending on baseline features of the patients and on the changes of plasma glucose levels after insulin administration. Every two to four hours the plasma glucose level is measured and Insulin aspart (Novorapid®) is injected s.c. according to the scheme. If the patient is eating, the dose of Insulin aspart (NovoRapid®)is increased according to the amount of carbohydrate intake.

Interventions: intervention 1: Novorapid ®, Novo Nordisk, Denmark
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Comparison of a sliding scale with an intensive s.c. scale

Protocol document: