FOUR YEARS RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS ON PREVALENCE AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS OF DIABETIC KETOASIDOSIS AMONG CHILDREN HAVING TYPE 1 DIABATIC MELLITUS AT WOLKITE UNIVERSITY TEACHING AND SPECIALIZED HOSPITAL

Abstract

Background: Of all endocrine disorders DM affect more number of people in the world as a whole and in our country Ethiopia too. As to WHO 2023 report DM had been shown to affect 243 million people worldwide, which is further expected to double by 2030. DKA is the commonest acute complication of primarily type 1 DM occurring in 5-8 per 1000 type 1 DM patients. In Africa 26 to 29% of death in DM patients is attributed to DKA. It is also commonest complication of DM patients in Ethiopia. Objectives: To assess prevalence and associated factors of DKA among children age ≤14 years having type 1 DM patients at Wolkite university teaching and specialized hospital. Methods and materials: Institutional based analytic study design through retrospective card review was conducted from July 1, 2019GC to July 1, 2023GC at WUTSH, on childhood type 1 DM patients and checklist were filled from patient’s card by data collectors and data were analyzed by SPSS_Statistics_25.0x64.Result: 205 type 1 DM patients were included in this study where 68 (33.2%) of them was diagnosed with diabetic ketoacidosis. From symptoms Poly symptoms (polyuria and polydipsia) (32.4%), Abdominal pain (23.5%) were the leading presentations of DKA. Most of the patients RBS level of DKA patients was >300mg/ dl. About 50.0% of DKA patients had infections as a precipitating factor while insulin discontinuation accounted for about 33.8%. However, in 16.2% of cases there was no identified precipitating factor. Conclusion and Recommendation: Diabetic ketoacidosis was highly associated with young age and the presence of precipitating factor and Co morbidities. Parents and health care providers shall emphasize pediatric diabetic patients to reduce the prevalence and frequency of DKA, give special attention to infection prevention and the use of treatments for pediatric DM patients.