Introduction: Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a major complication affecting patients with diabetes. It is often the first presentation of type I diabetes and can also occur due to a lack of compliance with insulin therapy or infection, among other causes. Hospitalizations for DKA have increased globally among patients with type I and type II diabetes, which poses a strain on health systems.Aim: To determine the factors impacting the time to resolution of metabolic parameters in DKA patients.Methods: This retrospective study was performed by reviewing the clinical records of hospitalized DKA patients at King Fahad Specialist Hospital, a tertiary-level healthcare center in Buraidah, Al Qassim region, Saudi Arabia. The study included all DKA admissions that met the inclusion criteria between September 2019 and April 2022.Results: A total of 129 patients with a diagnosis of DKA from January 2019 to April 2022 were identified. Of these, 67 patients met the inclusion criteria. More females experienced DKA (56.7%), and the study population had an improvement rate of 97%. The mean length of stay (LOS) for patients with DKA was 73.19 hours, and the median time for DKA resolution was 15 hours (mean time 21.38 hours). The omission of insulin was the leading precipitating factor for DKA (43%) followed by infection (12%). A high serum bicarbonate (HCO 3) level was identified as an independent predictor for a longer time to resolution. Patients with DKA who have high glucose levels on admission, higher body mass index (BMI), older age, and higher weight stayed in the hospital for extended periods. Conversely, patients with a higher serum potential of Hydrogen (pH) had a shorter LOS. Age was the only clinically independent predictor for a minimum LOS for DKA. Patients with comorbidities had a longer hospital LOS than patients without comorbidities; no such relationship has been reported in other studies. Patients in our study population had a longer time of resolution than observed in other studies, although no clear cause was identified.Conclusion: This study contributes to our understanding of DKA in hospitalized patients in Saudi Arabia. This is the first study to link patients with DKA who have comorbidities to a longer hospital stay in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This study also identified multiple clinical and biochemical parameters related to the variability in LOS and time to resolution of DKA in hospitalized patients Categories: Endocrinology/Diabetes/Metabolism
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2025 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.