Non-infective morbidity in diabetic patients undergoing coronary and heart valve surgery.

Objective: Studies of postoperative morbidity in diabetics have focussed on infection; however, autonomic and cardiovascular complications of diabetes potentially increase the risk for non-infective morbidity. We sought to investigate major non-infective early postoperative complications in diabetic patients.

Methods: We identified diabetics who underwent CABG and/or valve operation from 1998 through 2007, and compared their clinical characteristics and outcome with a contemporaneous cohort of non-diabetic patients.