Patients with diabetes and low blood glucose have higher rates of death following hospital discharge, according to a study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
The cost for hospital readmissions within 30 days of discharge is estimated to be close to $25 billion per year in the U.S. Patients with diabetes are frequently admitted to the hospital. Unfortunately, many of them experience high risk of re-hospitalization or even death after discharge because of factors like hypoglycemia, or low blood glucose.
For the nationwide cohort study, researchers examined 843,978 admissions of patients with diabetes at the Veteran Affairs hospitals over a 14-year period to determine the readmission and mortality rates.
Read more:
- Association of Glucose Concentrations at Hospital Discharge with Readmissions and Mortality: A Nationwide Cohort Study. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 1 May 2019
- The Endocrine Society: https://www.endocrine.org/news-room/2019/patients-with-diabetes-are-40-percent-more-likely-to-be-readmitted-to-the-hospital