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In a large randomized trial that was published in 2001, Belgian researchers demonstrated that intensive insulin therapy lowered mortality among hyperglycemic surgical intensive care unit (ICU) patients, most of whom had undergone cardiac surgery (JW Gen Med Nov 16 2001). However, in that unblinded trial, intensively treated patients might have received other beneficial interventions.
In 2006, the same researchers conducted a similar randomized trial in the medical ICU. The primary endpoint, in-hospital mortality, did not differ significantly between the conventional and intensive groups; however, among patients whose ICU stays were <3 days, mortality was higher with intensive treatment than with conventional treatment. In contrast, among pat…