Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes in Patients Hospitalized with Diabetic Ketoacidosis

Background: Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is an acute complication of uncontrolled diabetes that is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Objective: We aimed to examine clinical characteristics and care outcomes for patients hospitalized for DKA. Methods: We reviewed the hospital database for patients who were admitted with DKA from 2015 to 2020 in government hospitals in Qatar. Clinical characteristics, laboratory data, the severity of DKA, complications, need for admission to the intensive care unit, length of hospital stay, time to resolution of DKA, and mortality rates were evaluated in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) compared to those with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) . Results: A total of 1613 episodes of DKA in 1330 patients (39.3% with T1DM and 60.7% with T2DM) were evaluated. Non-adherence to therapy was the commonest cause (40.5%) of DKA in patients with T1DM, while infection was the commonest cause (32.9%) in those with T2DM. There was no difference in the severity of DKA, mean serum glucose, mean serum sodium, and arterial pH on presentation in both groups of patients. Both groups had poorly controlled glucose (mean HbA1c of 10.1% and 10.5% in T1DM and T2DM groups respectively) . There was no difference in the time to resolution of DKA (18 hours in the T1DM group and 20 hours in the T2DM group) . Patients with T2DM had higher rates of admission to the intensive care unit (39.1% vs. 26.9% for T1DM, p<0.001) , longer hospital stay (mean 5 days vs. 2 days in the T1DM group, p<0.001) , while patients with T1DM had higher rates of recurrent DKA (35.6% vs. 21.2% in the T2DM group, p<0.001) . Mortality rates were significantly higher in patients with T2DM compared to those with T1DM patients (7.6% vs. 0.95%, respectively, p<0.001) . Conclusion: In this cohort study, poorly controlled glucose was prevalent among patients admitted with DKA. Despite higher rates of recurrent DKA in patients with T1DM, those with T2DM had more complicated hospital course and higher mortality. Disclosure M.Eledrisi: None. S.A.Beshyah: None. M.K.Aboawon: None. H.M.Alkabbani: None. A.A.Ali: None. I.Alabdulrazzak: None. M.Elhaj: None. A.O.E.Ahmed: None. H.Alqahwachi: None. J.Daghfal: None.