Intra‐individual association between C‐reactive protein and insulin administration in postoperative lumbar spinal canal stenosis patients: A retrospective cohort study

The association of intra‐individual variability in insulin requirements with C‐reactive protein levels among acute phase patients remains unclear. This retrospective cohort study aimed to evaluate this association. Patients with type 2 diabetes undergoing surgery for lumbar spinal canal stenosis were included in the study. We analyzed 286 records of 49 patients using the linear mixed effects model. The model showed C‐reactive protein levels to be significantly associated with insulin requirements, with an effect size of 0.60 U/day for an elevation of 1 mg/dL. The effect size was increased in patients with higher hemoglobin A1c levels. Our findings imply that C‐reactive protein levels could be a useful clinical biomarker when blood glucose levels are controlled in acute phase patients. Our study aimed to show the association between C‐reactive protein levels and insulin requirement in acute phase patients, using longitudinal data and the linear mixed effects model. The model showed that C‐reactive protein levels were significantly associated with the amount of insulin administered in postoperative patients with lumbar spinal canal stenosis. Our findings showed that C‐reactive protein levels could be a metric for controlling insulin administration, which would help clinicians control blood glucose levels.