Professional paper
ACUTE DIABETIC COMPLICATIONS ATTENDED AT HOSPITAL EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT FROM 2010 TO 2018
IVAN JURIĆ
orcid.org/0000-0001-9879-2218
; Sveti Duh University Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Zagreb, Croatia
ANĐELA SIMIĆ
; Institute of Emergency Medicine of Varaždin County, Varaždin, Croatia
VIŠNJA NESEK ADAM
orcid.org/0000-0002-6521-4136
; Sveti Duh University Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Zagreb, Institute of Emergency Medicine of Varaždin County, Varaždin, Sveti Duh University Hospital, Department of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation and Intensive Care, Zagreb and Josip Juraj St
Abstract
Objective: Diabetes is one of the major health and socioeconomic problems in Croatia. According to data from the Croatian Institute of Public Health, over 300,000 patients with diabetes have been registered, with further increase in the number of patients. In 2017, diabetes was recognized as the fi fth leading cause of death, accounting for 3.7% of total mortality. Diabetic ketoacidosis, hyperglycemic hyperosmolar condition, and hypoglycemia are serious complications of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, which also are the most common emergency conditions in endocrinology. Although diabetic ketoacidosis most commonly occurs in people with type 1 diabetes and hyperosmolar condition in those with type 2 diabetes, there is an increasing incidence of diabetic ketoacidosis in subjects with type 2 diabetes. The main aim of the research was to analyze the hypoglycemic and hyperglycemic crisis patients at Department of Emergency Medicine, Sveti Duh University Hospital, during the 2010-2018 period. Methods: The study population included a total of 175,446 adults examined at Emergency Department from January 1, 2010 until December 31, 2018, with plasma glucose values greater than 13.9 mmol/L or less than 3.9 mmol/L. Depending on the acid-base status, ketonuria and plasma osmolarity, patients were divided into four groups as follows: non-ketotic hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia in diabetes, diabetic ketoacidosis, and hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state. Patients were also divided according to age and type of diabetes. Results: At 3,773 visits, defi nitions of hyperglycemic or hypoglycemic crisis were met, of which 180 episodes of diabetic ketoacidosis, 29 hyperosmolar hyperglycemic conditions, 359 hypoglycemic conditions, and 567 cases of newly diagnosed diabetes. The number of episodes of hyperglycemic crisis was been without major fl uctuations over years. Only 17.72% of diabetic ketoacidosis cases were reported in patients with type 1 diabetes, whereas the remaining patients were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Infections were reported as the most common risk factor for diabetic ketoacidosis (35.4%), followed by missed insulin therapy as the second most common cause (29.3%). Repeated admission within 30 days was recorded in 15% of patients with acute complications of diabetes. Discussion: The frequency of visits of diabetic patients was higher than expected due to the frequency of diagnoses in the general population. There was an annual increase in the incidence of diabetic ketoacidosis and hypoglycemia in patients older than 60 years. Considering the guidelines for clinical practice, the starting time and volume of crystalloid solutions administered were satisfactory in more than two-thirds of cases. However, compared to clinical practice guidelines for insulin administration within the fi rst 60 minutes, the time of fi rst administration was after 100 minutes in more than two-thirds of diabetic ketoacidosis cases. The possible reasons were non-specifi city of the clinical signs and the time it took for blood test result reporting. Conclusion: The incidence of diabetes in patients admitted to the emergency department was higher than expected in the general population, with an increase in type 1 and type 2 diabetes patients. Most patients with diabetic ketoacidosis had already been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, although patients with type 1 diabetes more often presented with diabetic ketoacidosis to the emergency department. The most commonly recognized risk factors for diabetic ketoacidosis were infection and inadequate insulin therapy. There was an increase in the use of metformin and DPP-4 inhibitors in diabetes therapy.
Keywords
complications of diabetes; emergency medicine
Hrčak ID:
236571
URI
Publication date:
16.3.2020.
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