Association Between Preoperative Diabetes Control and Postoperative Adverse Events Among Veterans Health Administration Patients With Diabetes Who Underwent Elective Ambulatory Hernia Surgery

Abstract

Hernia surgery is commonly performed with a low rate of postoperative adverse events (AEs). Risk of complications (eg, infection, bleeding, and superficial wound dehiscence) is higher for patients with type 1 or 2 diabetes,¹ and several academic societies recommend testing glycemic control preoperatively, including the American Diabetes Association,² the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia,³ and the Endocrine Society.⁴ However, there is limited evidence that keeping within recommended blood glucose (BG) concentrations of 100 to 180 mg/dL (to convert to millimoles per liter, multiply by 0.0555) is associated with improved outcomes in ambulatory surgery. Our objective was to test the hypothesis that poor same-day preoperative glycemic control was associated with higher odds of postoperative AEs among Veterans Health Administration (VHA) patients with diabetes undergoing ambulatory hernia surgery.