High blood sugar increases mortality in leukemia patients

Filed under: Leukemia

High blood sugar levels increase the rate of in-hospital deaths by almost 40 percent in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to a study published in Cancer and led by Dr. Naeem Ali and colleagues at Ohio State. This effect was seen even in patients with mild increases in blood sugar levels.

The risk of developing sepsis was increased among such patients with hyperglycemia, according to the team, however, sepsis alone did not explain the relationship between the high blood sugar and increased mortality risk.

According to Dr. Ali, it is not clear if tight control over AML patients' blood sugar levels would improve outcomes as it does among critically ill patients. However, this study does "provide an impetus for further investigation in this area."

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[Source: The Cancer Blog]