Amanda L. Brennan

Hyperglycaemia is associated with poor outcomes in patients admitted to hospital with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Background: Hyperglycaemia is associated with poor outcomes from pneumonia, myocardial infarction and stroke, but the effect of blood glucose on outcomes from acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) has not been established. Recent UK guidelines do not comment on measurement or control of blood glucose in AECOPD. A study was therefore undertaken to determine the relationship between blood glucose concentrations, length of stay in hospital, and mortality in patients admitted with AECOPD. Methods: Data were retrieved from electronic records for patients admitted with AECOPD with lower respiratory tract infection in 2001–2. The patients were grouped according to blood glucose quartile (group 1, <6 mmol/l (n = 69); group 2, 6.0–6.9 mmol/l (n = 69); group 3, 7.0–8.9 mmol/l (n = 75); and group 4, >9.0 mmol/l (n = 71)). Results: The relative risk (RR) of death or long inpatient stay was significantly increased in group 3 (RR 1.46, 95% CI 1.05 to 2.02, p = 0.02) and group 4 (RR 1.97, 95% CI 1.33 to 2.92, p<0.0001) compared with group 1. For each 1 mmol/l increase in blood glucose the absolute risk of adverse outcomes increased by 15% (95% CI 4 to 27), p = 0.006. The risk of adverse outcomes increased with increasing hyperglycaemia independent of age, sex, a previous diagnosis of diabetes, and COPD severity. Isolation of multiple pathogens and Staphylococcus aureus from sputum also increased with increasing blood glucose. Conclusion: Increasing blood glucose concentrations are associated with adverse clinical outcomes in patients with AECOPD. Tight control of blood glucose reduces mortality in patients in intensive care or following myocardial infarction. A prospective study is now required to determine whether control of blood glucose can also improve outcomes from AECOPD.

Glucose in bronchial aspirates increases the risk of respiratory MRSA in intubated patients

Background: The risk of nosocomial infection is increased in critically ill patients by stress hyperglycaemia. Glucose is not normally detectable in airway secretions but appears as blood glucose levels exceed 6.7–9.7 mmol/l. We hypothesise that the presence of glucose in airway secretions in these patients predisposes to respiratory infection. Methods: An association between glucose in bronchial aspirates and nosocomial respiratory infection was examined in 98 critically ill patients. Patients were included if they were expected to require ventilation for more than 48 hours. Bronchial aspirates were analysed for glucose and sent twice weekly for microbiological analysis and whenever an infection was suspected. Results: Glucose was detected in bronchial aspirates of 58 of the 98 patients. These patients were more likely to have pathogenic bacteria than patients without glucose detected in bronchial aspirates (relative risk 2.4 (95% CI 1.5 to 3.8)). Patients with glucose were much more likely to have methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) than those without glucose in bronchial aspirates (relative risk 2.1 (95% CI 1.2 to 3.8)). Patients who became colonised or infected with MRSA had more infiltrates on their chest radiograph (p<0.001), an increased C reactive protein level (p<0.05), and a longer stay in the intensive care unit (p<0.01). Length of stay did not determine which patients acquired MRSA. Conclusion: The results imply a relationship between the presence of glucose in the airway and a risk of colonisation or infection with pathogenic bacteria including MRSA.

Effect of hyperglycaemia on glucose concentration of human nasal secretions.

Glucose is not detectable in airways secretions of normoglycaemic volunteers, but is present at 1-9 mmol x l(-1) in airways secretions from people with hyperglycaemia. These observations suggest the existence of a blood glucose threshold at which glucose appears in airways secretions, similar to that seen in renal and salivary epithelia. In the present study we determined the blood glucose threshold at which glucose appears in nasal secretions. Blood glucose concentrations were raised in healthy human volunteers by 20% dextrose intravenous infusion or 75 g oral glucose load. Nasal glucose concentrations were measured using modified glucose oxidase sticks as blood glucose concentrations were raised. Glucose appeared rapidly in nasal secretions once blood glucose was clamped at approx. 12 mmol x l(-1) ( n =6). On removal of the clamp, nasal glucose fell to baseline levels in parallel with blood glucose concentrations. An airway glucose threshold of 6.7-9.7 mmol x l(-1) was identified ( n =12). In six subjects with normal glucose tolerance, blood glucose concentrations rose above the airways threshold and nasal glucose became detectable following an oral glucose load. The presence of an airway glucose threshold suggests that active glucose transport by airway epithelial cells normally maintains low glucose concentrations in airways secretions. Blood glucose exceeds the airway threshold after a glucose load even in people with normal glucose tolerance, so it is likely that people with diabetes or hyperglycaemia spend a significant proportion of each day with glucose in their airways secretions.

Hyperglycaemia and pulmonary infection

Pathophysiological stress from acute illness causes metabolic disturbance, including altered hepatic glucose metabolism, increased peripheral insulin resistance and hyperglycaemia. Acute hyperglycaemia is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in patients in intensive care units and patients with acute respiratory disease. The present review will consider mechanisms underlying this association. In normal lungs the glucose concentration of airway secretions is approximately 10-fold lower than that of plasma. Low airway glucose concentrations are maintained against a concentration gradient by active glucose transport. Airway glucose concentrations become elevated if normal homeostasis is disrupted by a rise in blood glucose concentrations or inflammation of the airway epithelium. Elevated airway glucose concentrations are associated with and precede increased isolation of respiratory pathogens, particularly methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, from bronchial aspirates of patients intubated on intensive care. Markers of elevated airway glucose are associated with similar patterns of respiratory infection in patients admitted with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Glucose at airway concentrations stimulates the growth of respiratory pathogens, over and above the effect of other nutrients. Elevated airway glucose concentrations may also worsen respiratory disease by promoting local inflammation. Hyperglycaemia may thus promote pulmonary infection, at least in part, by an effect on airway glucose concentrations. Therapeutic options, including systemic control of blood glucose and local manipulation of airway glucose homeostasis, will be considered.

New insights into the glucose oxidase stick test for cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhoea

Rhinorrhoea is a clinical sign of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage in patients with skull fracture, but can also be attributable to respiratory secretions or tears. Laboratory tests confirming the presence of CSF are not sufficiently rapid to support clinical decision making in the emergency department and may not be universally available. Detection of glucose in nasal discharge was traditionally used to diagnose CSF leak at the bedside, but has fallen into disuse as it has poor positive predictive value. We propose an algorithm to improve the diagnostic value of this test taking into consideration factors we have found to affect the glucose concentration of respiratory secretions. In patients at risk of CSF leak, nasal discharge is likely to contain CSF if glucose is present in the absence of visible blood, if blood glucose is <6 mmol.L−1, and if there are no symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection.

Development of a biomarker for lung inflammation in COPD through analysis of labelled leukocyte transit through the lung circulation

Measurement of pulmonary leukocyte margination could be a useful biomarker of lung inflammation in COPD, but analysis is complicated by recirculation of labeled leukocytes. 15 minutes of planar nuclear images were obtained after injecting autologous 99mTc-labeled leukocytes in 4 never-smoked controls, 6 stable mild/moderate and 2 exacerbating COPD patients. COPD patients were also imaged for 10 minutes after in vivo red blood cell (RBC) labeling with 99mTc and were re-imaged 2 weeks later to determine reproducibility. Activity as a function of time was measured in regions of interest over lungs and heart. A multi-compartment mathematical model was used to correct for recirculation but failed to provide a biomarker that clearly separated controls from COPD. A simpler model for activity in lungs and heart as a function of time (A(t)) was applied only to time points before recirculation: [A(t) = X1 x (1-exp(-X2 x t)) x exp(-X3 x t), where Xi are adjusted to match the data]. The ratio (R) of X3 (downslope of curve) in the lungs to X3 in the heart was investigated as a biomarker of margination. Values of R were reasonable (1.06±0.08 (SE)) for RBC (i.e. no margination) and 0.76±0.10 for controls (∼25% margination). In stable COPD patients R was significantly smaller (0.19±0.09, p<0.01) than controls and was reproducible (0.25±0.10). R during exacerbation was surprisingly large (0.88±0.22), possibly due to steroid treatment, but R was similar to stable COPD patients 2 weeks later (0.09±0.04). R requires only 2–3 minutes of imaging and may be a useful biomarker of margination. However it remains to be shown whether R truly reflects inflammation in COPD.