Association Between Preoperative Blood Glucose Level and Hospital Length of Stay for Patients Undergoing Appendectomy or Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy
<b>OBJECTIVE</b><b> </b> <p>To evaluate the effect of preoperative blood glucose (POBG) level on hospital length of stay (LOS) in patients undergoing appendectomy or laparoscopic cholecystectomy. </p> <p><b>RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS</b></p> <p>We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients aged ≥18 years who had undergone either appendectomy or laparoscopic cholecystectomy procedures between 2005 and 2016 at a tertiary medical center in Taiwan. The association between POBG level and LOS was evaluated using a multivariable quasi-Poisson regression with robust variance. Multiple imputations were performed to replace missing values.</p> <p><b>RESULTS</b></p> <p>We included a total of 8,291 patients; 4,025 patients underwent appendectomy (appendectomy group) and 4,266 underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy (laparoscopic cholecystectomy group). In the appendectomy group, patients with POBG levels of ≥123 mg/dL (adjusted relative risk [aRR], 1.19; 95% CI, 1.06–1.33) had a 19% higher risk of having a LOS of >3 days than did those with POBG levels of <106 mg/dL. In the laparoscopic cholecystectomy group, patients with POBG levels of ≥128 mg/dL also had a significantly higher risk of having a LOS of >3 days (aRR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.07–1.29) than did those with POBG levels of <102 mg/dL. A positive dose–response curve between POBG and an adjusted risk of a LOS of >3 days was observed, despite the curve starts to flatten at a POBG level of approximately 130 mg/dL.</p> <p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b></p> <p>We demonstrated that a higher POBG level was significantly associated with a prolonged LOS for patients undergoing appendectomy and laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The optimal POBG level may be lower than that commonly perceived.</p>