Background: Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a major acute metabolic complication of type I diabetes mellitus but may occur in type II diabetes during severe stressful conditions.
Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the clinical profile of DKA patients admitted to the National Diabetes and Endocrine Center in Tripoli, Libya, during 2015.
Patients and methods: The profiles of 490 patients admitted with DKA were retrospectively studied. All the data was collected from the patient files.
Results: Most of the patients (91.6%) were admitted to the intensive care unit. The mean age was 35.9 years. DKA was more common among young males with type I diabetes. The average duration of diabetes disease of the patient when admitted with DKA was 16.8 ± 8.2 years. The frequencies of patients admitted with mild, moderate or severe diabetic ketoacidosis were 49.8%, 32.7% and 17.8%, respectively. The most frequent causes of admission were insulin omission (21.8%), infection (20.2%), and wrong dose (11%). The cause of DKA was not known for 29.8% of the patients. DKA was more common among young males, and the rate increased with longer duration of the condition. Most of the patients (93.1%) were discharged in good health, and mortality was 0.6%.
Conclusion: Males and patients with a long duration of diabetes disease are more prone to develop DKA. The common causes of DKA were unknown in our study; however, admission of individuals with less serious illness, insulin omission, and infection may contribute to the development of DKA.
Keywords: Diabetes mellitus; Diabetic ketoacidosis.
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