British researchers have found that tight glucose control during hospitalization for a stroke may not improve survival.

The study involved 933 patients enrolled within 24 hours of a stroke who had glucose in the range of 6.0 to 17 mmol/l. Participants received saline solution or continuous glucose, potassium, insulin infusions to reduce their blood glucose. Patients were monitored every two hours with glucose adjusted if needed every eight hours. The researchers found that both treatment and placebo groups had improvement in glucose levels. The treatment group had an overall mean 0.57 mmol/l reduction in glucose over 24 hours while glucose levels also fell spontaneously with simple saline hydration. There was also no difference in the secondary outcome of disability. There was a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure in the treatment group. A researcher noted, "In the majority of patients, treatment with a simple saline infusion will correct mild to moderate hyperglycemia."

The saline and glucose relationship is similar to the way the noninvasive glucose monitors measure blood sugar (aka Glucowatch)., This relationship between sodium and glucose in the blood moves inverse. When your sugar levels are elevated, your sodium is down. When you force sodium into your blood, your sugar is suppressed. Doctors must proceed with caution in light of this study. When it comes to aggressively lowering glucose, especially after a trauma, it could be more harmful than helpful.

Do you know what a transient ischemic attack, or TIA, is? Well, neither did I until five minutes ago. It's a mini-stroke. Now, that's a term you may be familiar with. Basically, they look just like a regular stroke but they cause no long-term problems. Trouble is, once you've experienced a mini-stroke, you're at much greater risk of having a regular, full-on stroke.

Here's news about mini-strokes that should be of interest to diabetics: a Dutch study concludes that impaired glucose tolerance, a precursor to diabetes, is linked to increased risk of stroke in non-diabetics who have already suffered a minor or mini-stroke. Specifically, study participants who had impaired glucose tolerance exhibited a scary eighty percent increased stroke risk. In other words, for those who have already suffered a TIA and who have impaired glucose tolerance, the risk of suffering a full stroke is higher than for those with regular glucose tolerance.

Results have been published in the rather unfortunately titled medical journal Stroke (June 2006)