Diabetic ketoacidosis in adults: clinical and laboratory features

RESUMO

In this retrospective study, we report the clinical and biochemical features of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in adult patients who were managed at the Instituto Nacional de la Nutricion during a 6.5 year period. There were 98 episodes in 46 patients 22 females (48 per cent) and 24 males (52 per cent). Six patients (13 per cent) had four or more episodes of DKA were the initial manifestation of diabetes. We compared our results with those from other reported series, finding no differences among them. The mean anion gap in our series was 30.4. Main complications identified were hypokalemia in five cases, hypoglycemia in four cases hypernatremia in four cases, and acute pulmonary edema, ventricular fibrillation, neurological deficit and coma in one case each. There were three death (6.5 per cent) in the whole group. To our knowledge, this is the largest series on adult patients with DKA reported in our country in the last decade. The obtained results may help evaluate prospectively the impact of different diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in the management of DKA