The impact of hyperglycemia on stroke outcomes in patients with and without diabetes

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is a well-established independent risk factor for the development of stroke. It increases stroke risk by about fourfold. Information is scarce on the prevalence of stroke in the Gulf region. A systematic review of stroke epidemiology in the Middle East reported an increase in stroke cases over the last decade. Objectives: We aimed to examine the relationship between adverse stroke outcomes and dysglycemia. Patients and Methods: In this observational, retrospective, cross-sectional study, we recruited 496 patients with a clinical and radiological stroke diagnosis. We compared the length of hospital stay (LOS), inhospital mortality, and 30-day stroke readmission among those with no diabetes, prediabetes, and diabetes. Results: A total of 496 patients were eligible for the inclusion in the study. They were subdivided into three main categories based on their glycemic status according to the Hemoglobin A1c values at presentation. nondiabetes (190), prediabetes (117) and diabetes (189). The mean age was 57 years, with a higher proportion of males (n = 356) than females (n = 140). There were proportionally more ischemic strokes (n = 350) than hemorrhagic strokes (n = 147). The mean LOS was 5.0 days for all patients, irrespective of their glycemic status. Inhospital mortality was 4%, with slightly higher mortality (5.3%) in the group with diabetes; however, this was not statistically significant. Glycemic status did not seem to impact the stroke readmission at 3 or 6 months significantly. Furthermore, the proportion of patients readmitted within 30 days of discharge was not different between the three categories. Conclusions: Ischemic strokes occur in a much higher proportion in our patients with diabetes. Dysglycemia did not significantly impact stroke outcomes in our cohort.