Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Assistant Professor of Critical Care and Emergency Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University, Egypt
2
Assistant Professor of Gerontological Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University, Egypt
3
Assistant Professor of Critical Care and Emergency Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University, Egypt. Assistant Professor of Critical Care and Emergency Nursing, College of Nursing, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia. King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
Abstract
Background: the incidence of ICU-acquired weakness (ICUAW) is rising from 25 to 31%
worldwide, with 3.25–6.2 million new patients annually. This may be due to the ageing process and
the intensive care units (ICUs) stay. Objective: To determine the correlation between ICU-acquired
weakness and hyperglycemia in critically ill geriatric patients. Design: A descriptive research
design was used to conduct this study. The study was conducted at six intensive care units from
Smouha university hospital and Alexandria main university hospital in Egypt. Tools: Two tools
were used, tool one was patients’ clinical and demographic data. Tool two was patients Simplified
Medical Research Council (SMRC) Scale. Sample: A purposeful sample of four hundreds and
ninety newly admitted geriatric patients, aged > 60 years, Glasgow Coma Scale >9, oxygen
saturation ≥88%, no brain stem problems, spinal cord lesions, myasthenia gravis or Guillain-Barre
syndrome were included at this study. Results: the study showed that 37.1 % of geriatric patients
had ICU-acquired weakness, 57% had hyperglycemia, and 33.7% of them had both ICU-acquired
weakness and hyperglycemia. There was a highly statistically significant correlation (p=0.008)
between the acquired muscle weakness and hyperglycemia among the geriatric patients. Conclusion:
A significant correlation was found between ICUAW and hyperglycemia among critically ill
geriatric patients. Recommendations: Health education program should be offered to the critical
care nurses who are working with critically ill geriatric patients to foster early detection of ICU-
acquired weakness, and control of hyperglycemia.
Keywords
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