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Insulin: a wonder drug in the critically ill?

Published by National Institutes of Health | U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | Metadata Last Checked: September 07, 2025 | Last Modified: 2025-09-06
Stress hyperglycaemia is a common event in acute critical illness. There is increasing evidence that maintaining normoglycaemia and treatment with insulin (or with glucose–insulin–potassium [GIK]), even in non-diabetic persons, is helpful in limiting organ damage after myocardial infarction, stroke, traumatic brain injury and other conditions, even though the conditions may be accompanied by insulin resistance. A landmark study now suggests that maintaining normoglycaemia with intensive insulin treatment in a heterogeneous population of critically ill patients decreases morbidity and mortality. The potential mechanisms that underlie such a beneficial effect are discussed.

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