Importance:

Ketoacidosis is one of the most serious complications of diabetes. Few studies in Latin Ameri-ca describe the clinical profile and outcomes of adults with diabetic ketoacidosis. We proposed to determine demographic and clinical features, precipitating fac-tors 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.

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