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.