Frequency and risk factors of diabetic ketoacidosis in a specialized children's hospital, Riyadh : a cross-sectional study

Abstract EN

Objectives : Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a life-threatening complication and a leading cause of hospitalization in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM).

We aimed to assess the risk factors of admissions of children with DKA in a specialized children's hospital to reduce morbidity and inform appropriate prevention and intervention strategies.

Methods : We conducted a retrospective review of all DKA admissions at King Abdullah Specialized Children's Hospital, Riyadh (March 2015-December 2017).

Data were gathered from newly diagnosed patients with TIDM and known patients ≤ 14 years old with DKA criteria.

The main variables were frequency, precipitating factors, and other characteristics of DKA admissions in both groups.

Results : A total of 116/562 patients with TIDM (mean age 8.9±3.0 years) had 146 DKA episodes, of which 42/116 (36.2%) were newly diagnosed.

The frequency of DKA admissions were 146/562 ( 26.0%), of which 42/141 (29.8%) were newly diagnosed versus 104/421 (24.7%) known TIDM patients.

The majority were 10-14 years old (p ≤ 0.001), and 77.8% were females.

Missing insulin was the main cause of DKA (p = 0.001) among known patients with TIDM.

Recurrent episodes (n = 30/146, 20.5%) occurred in 15/116 patients and were more common in children > 10 years of age (p = 0.024).

The mean length of stay was 2.6±2.0 days and increased with DKA severity (p = 0.008).

Conclusions : Most DKA episodes were in patients with known TIDM and missing insulin was the leading cause of DKA.

In addition to awareness campaigns to prevent DKA as an initial presentation, intervention strategies should also target high-risk groups of known patients of T1DM such as adolescents and patients with recurrent episodes.