Table 4

Comparison between the two intensive insulin therapy (IIT) protocols

Comparison of the two IIT protocols

Protocol 1 (n = 100)

Protocol 2 (n = 91)

p values^a

Mean BG level during sepsis (mg/dl; mean/SD)

145.9 (24.7)

131.7 (19.9)

<0.0001^b

Median amount of insulin per day (IU; median/IQR)

42.8 (29.6 to 68.4)

38.6 (24.4 to 58.3)

0.2165^c

Median duration of continuous insulin therapy (hours; median/IQR)

102.2 (8.2 to 214.2)

143.6 (63.8 to 297.7)

0.0058^c

Median duration of entire insulin therapy (hours; median/IQR)

188.0 (101.9 to 431.5)

210.4 (103.9 to 429.6)

0.7102^c

Incidence of hyperglycaemic values

49.7%

32.3%

<0.0001^d

Frequency of BG values within the target range

47.7%

63.2%

<0.0001^d

Time to reach target BG level (hours; median/IQR)

7.7 (3.2 to 34.8)

4.1 (3.2 to 09.01)

0.0012^c

Duration of continuous insulin therapy (hours; median/IQR)

102.2 (8.2 to 214.2)

143.6 (63.8 to 297.7)

0.0058^c

Comparison of the following parameters showed no significant differences among the groups: rate of patients with critical hypoglycaemia, incidence of BG values below 40 mg/dl, rate of patients with hyperglycaemia above 140 mg/dl.

^a Significance level p < 0.05; p values for the comparison between different therapy groups were calculated using t-test (b), Mann-Whitney-U test (c) and 2 × 2 tables (d), as appropriate.

BG = blood glucose; IQR = interquartile range; SD = standard deviation; IU = international units.

Waeschle et al. Critical Care 2008 12:R129   doi:10.1186/cc7097