Background Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a metabolic catastrophe which could occur in any type of diabetes. Even when fundamental key points of DKA treatment had been followed, some differences exist in treatment protocols in each physician, highlighting the need to assess adherence to DKA guideline. Aim This study aimed to examine trend of hospitalized DKA patients and outcomes of treatment over a decade at Theptarin Hospital, a multi-discipline based diabetes center in Thailand . Method A retrospective study of DKA episodes admitted over a 14-year period (2005–2018) was done. Clinical characteristics, laboratory data, type of diabetes, severity of DKA were collected and analyzed. Results A total of 94 DKA episodes occurred in 81 diabetic patients (females 61.5%, mean age 47.4 ± 20.4 years, T1DM 41.5%, T2DM 50.0%, Ketosis-prone diabetes 8.5%, baseline A1C 10.8 ± 3.0%). While infection was the common precipitating factor in T2DM, omission of insulin was the usual precipitating factor in T1DM. During ongoing management, 26.6% of patients developed hypokalemia and supplementation was not prescribed as per protocol in this group of patients. Almost 13% of patients experienced hypoglycemia in the first 24 h. Median time to resolution of DKA was 8.5 h. Four T2DM patients expired from the precipitating cause of DKA which accounted for mortality rate at 4.3% in our study. Conclusions Inadequate metabolic monitoring and iatrogenic hypoglycemia remain areas of concern for DKA management. Occurrence of hypokalemia was related to poor adherence to protocol guidance on potassium supplementation. A strengthened educational program for nursing and medical staffs should be emphasized.

Incidence and Malignancy Rates Classified by The Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology (TBSRTC) – An 8-year Tertiary Center experience in Thailand. Background Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) of the thyroid is considered the best diagnostic tool for preoperative evaluation of thyroid nodules. The introduction of T he B ethesda S ystem for R eporting T hyroid C ytopathology (TBSRTC) in 2010 provided the opportunity to establish worldwide standard for reporting and terminology guidelines for diagnostic categories. It is recommended that every institution evaluates the risk of malignancy (ROM) in each category for quality improvement process. Aim To assess the effectiveness of TBSRTC method at our institution using cyto-histological correlation. Method A retrospective 8-year (2010–2017) audit of thyroid FNA done by thyroid specialists at Theptarin hospital. The FNA results were classified according to TBSRTC. Histopathology reports for operated cases were used to correlate cytology and final histopathology. Results A total of 2735 thyroid FNA from 2115 patients (mean age 45.7 ± 13.1 years, female 89.8%) were examined. The rates of non-diagnostic, benign, atypia of undetermined significance (AUS), follicular neoplasm, suspected for malignancy, and malignant cases were 21.1%, 66.6%, 4.7%, 2.4%, 1.8%, and 3.3% respectively. There were 188 patients (9%) who underwent surgical resection with available histopathology. Malignancy rates in operated thyroid nodules were 20.0%, 4.2%, 9.4%, 23.5%, 57.1%, and 90.3% for categories 1 to 6, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value, and positive predictive value were 96.6%, 88.5%, 95.8%, and 90.3, respectively. Conclusions Preoperative diagnosis of thyroid nodules using TBSRTC in our hospital was comparable with other studies. The uniform diagnostic criteria of the Bethesda System help avoid misinterpretation while sharing local experience with international benchmarks.

Introduction Most nutritional guidelines for diabetes management emphasize the importance of having individualized goals, away from a one-size-fits-all approach. However, there is a dearth of information on the dietary intakes and nutritional knowledge of Thai patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This study is aimed at clarifying dietary intakes in relationship to glycemic control and at examining nutritional knowledge among Thai patients with T2DM. Materials and Methods A cross-sectional study of outpatients with T2DM at Theptarin Hospital and Ramathibodi Hospital (Bangkok, Thailand) was performed to assess dietary intakes by food records. Diabetes nutritional knowledge and dietary self-care behavior was also evaluated. Results A total of 304 Thai patients with T2DM (female 52.6%, mean age 57.4 ± 10.9 years, body mass index (BMI) 27.3 ± 4.8 kg/m2, and baseline A1C 7.2 ± 1.3%) participated in the study. The mean daily calorie intake was 1427 ± 425 kcal, and mean intake for each macronutrient was acceptable (carbohydrate 52%, protein 17%, and fat 31%). However, the intake of free sugar was much higher (12.1 ± 5.8% of total daily energy intake) and dietary fiber intake (9 grams per day) was much lower than recommended. There were no correlations between dietary intake and glycemic control. A subset of patients (N = 213) completed the diabetes nutritional knowledge survey. There was no association between diabetes nutritional knowledge and the actual dietary self-care behavior. Conclusion These results indicate that compliance of Thai patients with T2DM to dietary recommendations is not completely satisfactory, especially for free sugar and dietary fiber intakes. Addressing the reality of how patients with T2DM eat in their daily lives and their knowledge gaps would enable them to adhere to medical nutrition therapy.

BackgroundDiabetes is a progressive disease needing multiple drugs for achieving and maintaining good glycemic control. Sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) is a novel class of anti-diabetic agent which offers several beneficial effects. However, the long-term effectiveness in clinical practice and safety data of SGLT2 inhibitors is limited, especially in Asian patients. To better understand the effectiveness of SGLT2i in clinical practice, we conducted a retrospective evaluation of patients with diabetes on SGLT2i.MethodsThis retrospective observational study uses data of patients with diabetes who had been prescribed SGLT2i and continued to use at least 6 months at Theptarin Hospital, Bangkok. The characteristics of patients, changes in glycemic control and body weight at 3, 6, 12, 18, 24 months and the last follow-up were evaluated.ResultsA total of 189 patients with diabetes (females 50.3%, mean age 59.9 ± 12.3 years, T2DM 97.3%, duration of diabetes 16.3 ± 9.2 years, baseline BMI 29.9 ± 6.1 kg/m2, baseline HbA1c 8.8 ± 1.6%) were prescribed SGLT2i during the study period. At the time of first SGLT2i prescription, 80.4% used three or more other anti-diabetic agents concomitantly and 34.6% used insulin concomitantly. 151 patients who continue to use at least 6 months were included in analysis. At the last follow-up (median time 16 months), overall median HbA1c reduction and weight reduction were 1.0% and 1.5 kg, respectively. While glycemic control could maintain up to 18 months, weight loss gradually rebounded after the first 6 months and then backed to baseline body weight at 18 months (78.2 ± 18.0 kg vs. 78.0 ± 17.8, p value = 0.324). The incidence of adverse drug reactions of special interest (polyuria, volume depletion-related events, urinary tract infection, genital infection, and hypoglycemia) was 2.1, 1.6, 2.1, 2.6, and 7.9%, respectively.DiscussionThis real-world study confirmed long-term durability of glycemic control with SGLT2i in not only monotherapy, but also add-on studies with other oral anti-diabetic drugs and/or insulin treatment. However, weight loss became evident early after 6 weeks then reached slightly rebounds after 24 weeks until the end of follow-up. Further studies should be done towards a better understanding of treatment with SGLT2i in routine clinical practice.

Background Dysglycemic status defined by prediabetes and diabetes is known to be related with future risk of diabetic complications and cardiovascular diseases. Herein, we aimed to determine the diagnostic accuracy of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) when compared with oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) as a reference test in identifying dysglycemic status among high-risk Thai patients receiving care in an out-patient setting. Methods An 11-year retrospective cross-sectional study of high-risk Thai patients who underwent OGTT during 2007–2017 was analysed. The OGTT was used as a reference test to identify subjects of dysglycemic status. The diagnostic accuracy of HbA1c and the agreement between HbA1c and OGTT were examined. Validated Thai diabetes risk score, Thai cardiovascular risk score (Thai CV risk score), and visceral fat area (VFA) were also compared in each glycemic status from OGTT as surrogate markers for future diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Results A total of 512 subjects (females 60.5%, mean age of 50.3 ± 12.7 years, BMI of 26.5 ± 4.6 kg/m 2 ) were reviewed. Normal glucose tolerance (NGT) was found in 220 patients (43.0%), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) in 191 patients (37.3%), and diabetes in 101 patients (19.7%). The prevalence of diabetes using OGTT was approximately two times higher than those defined by HbA1c (19.7% versus 11.1%). There were poor agreements between the classifications of prediabetes and diabetes defined by OGTT and HbA1c (Cohen’s Kappa 0.154 and 0.306, respectively). Using a cut-off value for HbA1c ≥6.5% as a threshold for HbA1c-defined criteria of diabetes, sensitivity was 32% (95% CI 23–41%) and specificity was 94% (95% CI 92–96%). The optimal cut-off HbA1c value for detecting diabetes by Youden’s index was at HbA1c 6.2%. Thai CV risk score was much higher among the OGTT-defined diabetes group when compared with the NGT group (median score 10 vs. 3, p -value < 0.001). Conclusions Despite the practicality and validity of HbA1c as a diagnostic test, our study suggested that HbA1c as a screening tool for diabetes in high-risk Thai patients is much inferior to OGTT. With limitations of HbA1c, physicians should continue to advocate OGTT as a screening tool for the identification of dysglycemic status in high-risk Thai patients.