Effects of glucose level on early and long-term mortality after intracerebral haemorrhage: the Acute Brain Bleeding Analysis Study

Admission hyperglycaemia is associated with a poor outcome in patients with ischaemic stroke. However, its prognostic effects after intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) are still unclear. We prospectively enrolled patients with ICH at 33 centres in Korea between October 2002 and March 2004. A total of 1,387 patients who had ICH and underwent brain computed tomography within 48 h of symptom onset were included in the study (n = 1,387). Clinical information and radiological findings were collected at admission. Glucose levels were examined in relation to early (up to 30 days after ictus) and long-term (after 30 days) mortality rates using Cox regression analysis. To eliminate short-term effects, long-term mortality rate analysis was performed on surviving patients for more than 30 days. The long-term mortality rate was 21.1% after a mean follow-up of 434.3 +/- 223.2 days and was found to increase significantly with glucose quartile (p < 0.001). Admission glucose level was an independent risk factor for early mortality (per mmol/l; adjusted HR 1.10 [95% CI 1.01-1.19]), but not for long-term mortality. Moreover, when analysis was restricted to patients without diabetes, glucose level was found to be an independent risk factor for post-ICH mortality (n = 1,119; adjusted HR 1.10 [95% CI 1.03-1.17]) and had marginal significance for early (p = 0.053) and long-term mortality (p = 0.09). We found that admission glucose levels were associated with early mortality after ICH. In patients without diabetes, admission glucose levels were associated with long-term mortality. We therefore suggest that intensive lowering of glucose level should be further investigated in ICH patients.