Tight glycaemic control in critically ill children could shorten hospital stays, finds trial

Tight glycaemic control in some groups of critically ill children could reduce their hospital stay, although it does increase the risk of hypoglycaemia, a multicentre randomised controlled trial has found.

Stress hyperglycaemia is a common complication in critical illness and is associated with adverse outcomes. Debate continues over the benefits of tight glycaemic control in critical illness in adults, and there are very few data in children. The current accepted practice is not to try to control glucose concentrations in people who are critically ill.

The Control of Hyperglycaemia in Paediatric Intensive Care (CHiP) trial, published …