DOI: 10.36347/sasjm.2017.v03i01.003

Pages: Page: 19-22

Hypoglycemia is one of the most frequent endocrine emergencies all over the world. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between patients with hypoglycemia admitted to the emergency department and diabetes mellitus, the frequency of hypoglycemia caused by DM and the most frequent symptoms and to identify other diagnoses which might accompany hypoglycemia. This retrospective descriptive study was conducted March 1st, 2009 and March 1st, 2011 in a Tertiary Emergency Service where 120.000 adult patients were admitted on an annual basis. The mean age of 170 patients enrolled in the study was 65.5 ± 19.9 and 109 (64.1%) of them had a previous DM diagnosis. Patients’ blood glucose values were between 5-50 mg/dL and the mean blood glucose level was 39.9 ± 9.2. No statistically significant difference was obtained in terms of blood glucose between DM and non-DM patients and Type 1 DM and Type 2 DM patients. Chief complaints of the patients were confusion (n=58, 34.1%), coma (n=37, 21.7%), and neuroglycopenic symptoms such as syncope (n=34, 20%). We concluded that, hypoglycemia is one of the most frequent reasons especially for diabetic patients to apply to the emergency service it is important to diagnose and treat hypoglicemia early in the emergency department and in patients with any degree of altered mental status such as confusion, coma, and syncope, hypoglycemia must be considered