Severe hypoglycaemia in diabetic patients in Pre-hospital and Emergency Department care: A cross-sectional survey

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2018

Authors

Esteves, C (Author) Other; Neves, C (Author) Other; Sá, JJ (Author) Other; Carvalho, Davide (Author) FMUP

Journal

Title: BMC Research Notes

Vol. 11

ISSN: 1756-0500

Publisher: Springer Nature

Indexing

Scopus - 1 Citation

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00N-XFR

DOI: 10.1186/s13104-018-3363-0

Abstract (EN): Objective: We aimed to characterize hypoglycaemia episodes and patients examined by a Pre-hospital Medical Emergency Unit (PH) and in the Emergency Department (ED) of our hospital. Results: We identified 86 episodes of severe hypoglycaemia (PH: n 37; ED: n 49; both: n 12). Hypoglycaemia accounted for 4.7% of all emergency calls attended by the PH (n 793) and 0.11% of all ED episodes (n 54,366). Among episodes examined by the PH, 64.5% of involved patients had type 2 diabetes and 54.1% were not referred to the ED. Transportation of the patient to the ED was more likely in type 2 diabetes (p = 0.014). Among episodes evaluated in the ED 66.1% of the patients were more than 65 years old and 81.4% had type 2 diabetes. 66% of the patients were insulin treated. One-third of examined patients were admitted to the ward, the majority having type 2 diabetes. © 2018 The Author(s).

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific