Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a serious metabolic complication of diabetes with an annual incidence between 4.6 and 8 episodes per 1000 diabetic patients, it is responsible for a considerable socio-economic impact, however its mortality remains low.

Objectives: The objective of the study is to clarify the epidemiological and clinico-biological profile of type 1 diabetic patients hospitalized and followed for diabetic ketoacidosis.

Materials and Methods: Retrospective descriptive study about 423 type 1 diabetic patients hospitalized in the department of endocrinology and metabolic diseases followed for diabetic ketoacidosis between 2012 and 2022.

Results: The average seniority of diabetes was 6.7 years, inaugural ketoacidosis was recorded in 89 cases. All the patients had stayed in intensive care for an average of 2.1 days. The mean HbA1c was 10.9 ± 0.8%. The most common decompensation factors were infection in 50.6%, discontinuation of insulin therapy in 24.8% and a combined cause in 24.6%. Our patients were not aware of the vital necessity of insulin in 43.9% of the cases.

Conclusions: Despite recent progress in the management of type 1 diabetes, ketoacidosis is still common in some young patients, in chronic imbalance, new to therapeutic education. Good education and personalized support are essential to prevent and reduce the incidence of this severe metabolic complication and thus limit its socio-economic cost.