Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Profiles of diabetic ketoacidosis in multiethnic diabetic population of Malaysia

Atif Usman¹ , Syed Azhar Syed Sulaiman², Amer Hayat Khan^2,3, Azreen Syazril Adnan³

¹Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Government College University Faisalabad, 38100 Faisalabad, Pakistan; ²Discipline of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Science Malaysia, 11800 Penang Island, Malaysia; ³Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Resource Center, School of Medical Sciences, University of Science Malaysia, 16150 Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia.

For correspondence:- Atif Usman Email: miyan.atif@gmail.com

Received: 3 March 2014 Revised: 23 November 2014 Published: 30 January 2015

Citation: Usman A, Sulaiman SA, Khan AH, Adnan AS. Profiles of diabetic ketoacidosis in multiethnic diabetic population of Malaysia. Trop J Pharm Res 2015; 14(1):179-185 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v14i1.25

© 2015 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose:To outline first-time patient profiles of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in the absence of reported incidence and mortality rates of DKA in Malaysian diabetic population.

Methods:A retrospective cross-sectional study was designed and all medical records of patients with a discharge note of DKA were reviewed. Admissions from January 2009 to December 2011 were included. Data were analyzed in terms of socio-demographic variables in order to provide incidence and mortality rates. Medical history, as well as physical and biochemical characteristics were analyzed to report epidemiology of DKA patients.

Results:Out of a total of 207 admissions for DKA, 132 were selected for the present study. Female (62.9 %), Malay ethnic (47.0 %) and the elderly (45.1 years and above) contributed most to DKA episodes. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (51.1 %) patients were prone to develop DKA. Most patients experienced mild to moderate episode of DKA by the time they sought medical attention. Although, there was no significant relationship between chronic co-morbidity and occurrence of DKA, hypertension (54.5 %), dyslipidemia (43.0 %) and cardiac disorders (35.6 %) were, however, the most frequently observed co-morbidities. Non-adherence (43.2 %), sepsis (31.9 %) and respiratory tract infection (12.2 %) were the most encountered precipitating factors for DKA episode. Mortality rate was as high as 17.6 %.

Conclusion:With a higher incidence and mortality rate of DKA in Malaysia, the patterns observed in this study seem to be different from those of developed nations. Further extended studies need to be undertaken to elaborate regional and national patterns of DKA.

Keywords: Incidence, Mortality, Diabetic ketoacidosis, Diabetes, Hypertension, Cardiac disorders, Dyslipidemia, Comorbidity