Hyperglycemia in pediatric head trauma patients: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To verify the prevalence of acute hyperglycemia in children with head trauma stratified by the Glasgow coma scale (GCS).

Method: A prospective cross-sectional study carried out with information from medical records of pediatric patients presenting with head injury in the emergency room of a referral emergency hospital during a one year period. We considered the cut-off value of 150 mg/dL to define hyperglycemia.

Results: A total of 340 children were included and 60 (17.6%) had admission hyperglycemia. Hyperglycemia was present in 9% of mild head trauma cases; 30.4% of those with moderate head trauma and 49% of severe head trauma. We observed that among children with higher blood glucose levels, 85% had abnormal findings on cranial computed tomography scans.

Conclusion: Hyperglycemia was more prevalent in patients with severe head trauma (GCS <8), regardless if they had or not multiple traumas and in children with abnormal findings on head computed tomography scans.