Clinical Manifestation of Type I Diabetes Mellitus Patients Presented in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Karachi

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of clinical manifestation of type 1 diabetes mellitus patients presented in tertiary care hospitals in Karachi METHODOLOGY: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2015 to January 2016 at Out Patient Department of National Institute of Child Health, Karachi, Pakistan. A total of 90 children aged less than 18 years of either gender with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) were included through the non-probability consecutively sampling technique. Children who were immunocompromised or taking any drug which could cause hyperglycemia were excluded from the study. Various clinical presentations in terms of Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), weight loss, polydipsia, and polyuria were recorded. Data were entered and analyzed by using SPSS version 19.0. RESULTS: The age range was from 1 to 18 years (average age of 8.5+4.15 years) with a mean duration of symptoms 2.3+1.2 weeks. Out of 90 patients, 48 (53%) were male and 42 (47%) were female. There were 56(62.2%) were with DKA, 33(36.66%) were with weight loss, 65 (72.2%) were with polydipsia, and 76 (84.4%) were with polyuria. A significant association of polyuria was observed with the age of the patients (p-value <0.001) whereas the duration of symptoms was found to be significantly associated with DKA (p-value <0.001) and polyuria (p-value 0.032). CONCLUSION: The frequency of clinical presentations at the onset of type I diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is significant. Polydipsia, polyuria, and diabetic ketoacidosis are the most common symptoms of presentation.

Keywords

• clinical manifestations
• type 1 diabetes mellitus
• diabetic ketoacidosis
• polyuria
• polydipsia
• tertiary care