Epidemiological characteristics and lethality of adults with diabetic ketoacidosis treated in a uni-versity hospital in Colombia

Abstract

Importance: Ketoacidosis is one of the most serious complications of diabetes. Few studies in Latin America describe the clinical profile and outcomes of adults with diabetic ketoacidosis. We proposed to determine demographic and clinical features, precipitating factors and mortality in adults with diabetic ketoacidosis at a university hospital. Methods: A retrospective cohort study of patients older than 18 years of age admitted to the Hospital Universitario San Vicente Fundación (Medellín, Colombia) were reviewed from 2012 to 2015. Results: 159 adult patients with diabetic ketoacidosis were included. The median age was 46 years. Forty patients (25,2 %) had type 1 diabetes, 107 (67,3%) type 2 diabetes and 12 (7,6%) other types of diabetes. The most common diabetic ketoacidosis precipitating factor was suspension of medical treatment (36 %), followed by infection (32%) and new diagnosis of diabetes (28%). The median hospital stay was 8 days. Twelve patients died. Conclusion: The evaluation of patients with diabetic ketoacidosis in this study showed important differences in the clinical presentation of those with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Suspension of treatment was the most frequent precipitating factor, followed by infection. Mortality in this cohort was 7,5% compared to 1% in developed countries, showing the need to urgently improve the care of these patients.

Keywords

• diabetic ketoacidosis
• diabetes mellitus
• hyperglycemic hyperosmolar nonketotic coma