ESPE Abstracts

Background: Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) is a serious complication of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) that require prompt recognition, diagnosis and treatment. There is wide geographic variation in the frequency of DKA at onset of diabetes.

Objective: To determine frequency of DKA in children and adolescents with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes admitted to a tertiary care hospital in Turkey.

Methods: A retrospective study was undertaken including patients who diagnosed with T1DM in our paediatric endocrinology clinic, between June 2013 and February 2016. Data from medical carts of 93 children and adolescents (49 female) with T1DM were analysed. DKA was defined in patients based on laboratory test results; hyperglycemia (blood glucose >200 mg/dl) and venous pH < 7.30 and/or bicarbonate <15 mmol/l and ketonemia. DKA was classified as mild, moderate and severe based on venous pH, 7.20–7.30, 7.10–7.20 and <7.10 respectively.

Results: DKA was determined in 41.9% (39/93) of patients in the sample. The mean age of patients with DKA at the time of diagnosis was not significantly different from patients without DKA (8.7±5.2 vs 9.8±4.6 years). There were significant differences in HbA1c, C-peptide levels between the groups. The frequencies of mild, moderate and severe DKA were 20.4, 6.5 and 15.1%, respectively.

Conclusion: High frequency of DKA has been determined in our cohort. Community-based education programs could be helpful to increase awareness of diabetes in childhood period, in this way; the frequency of DKA can be reduced in patients with newly diagnosed T1DM.