Strict blood glucose control with insulin during intensive care after cardiac surgery: impact on 4-years survival, dependency on medical care, and quality-of-life.

Aims: To document the impact of intensive insulin therapy during intensive care on long-term (4 years) outcome of high-risk cardiac surgery patients.

Methods And Results: In this pre-planned sub-analysis and follow-up study of a large, randomized controlled trial on the effects of intensive insulin therapy during critical illness, we assessed long-term outcome in the 970 patients who had been admitted after high-risk cardiac surgery (mean+/-SD EuroSCORE of 6.0+/-3.