The psychopathology of recurrent diabetic ketoacidosis: A case-control study

Severe and Recurrent Diabetic Ketoacidosis in Children and Youth with Type 1 Diabetes: Risk and Protective Factors

Objective: To examine the risk and protective factors for severe and recurrent diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in a large sample of children in the Southwestern United States. Methods: Retrospective chart review of children age 0-18 years with type 1 diabetes (T1D) seen at a large children's hospital/integrated care delivery system between October 2019 and December 2022. Data from the preceding 2 years were used to predict postdiagnosis DKA in each subsequent year. Logistic regression and recursive feature elimination (RFE) were used to select significant predictors of any DKA, severe DKA, and recurrent DKA. Model performance was evaluated using fivefold cross-validation, with area under the curve in the receiver operating characteristic plot as the performance metric. Results: Records were obtained for 4649 encounters, representing 1850 patients and 846 prior DKA events. Based on RFE, single prior DKA, recurrent prior DKA, and hemoglobin A1c were significant shared predictors for subsequent DKA, severe DKA, and recurrent DKA, and female sex was positively associated with any DKA and recurrent DKA. The model for recurrent DKA also included age between 10 and 14 years as an unshared risk factor, and Hispanic ethnicity and use of an insulin pump (with or without automated insulin delivery) as unshared protective factors. Incidence of severe DKA was highly correlated (r = 0.95) with number of prior DKA events. Black and female patients were more likely to experience multiple recurrent DKA episodes and repeated episodes of severe DKA. Conclusions: Severe and recurrent DKA have both shared and unshared risk factors. Severe DKA may be a singular phenomenon in most cases, although a subset of patients (primarily Black and female) experience repeated severe events, placing them at high risk for adverse health outcomes. Recurrent DKA appears to be more of a chronic issue, although a number of variables emerged as protective factors, suggesting ways in which recurrent DKA might be prevented.

Prevalence and associated factors of psychiatric problems in children aged 6-18 years with type-1 diabetes mellitus in Gondar, Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common chronic illnesses in children with multiple psychosocial, economic and developmental effects. Psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, psychological distress, and eating disorders are more common in diabetic patients than the non-diabetic once. The main objective of our study was to assess Prevalence and associated factors of psychiatric problems in children aged 6-18 years with type 1 diabetes mellitus in Gondar, Ethiopia.

METHODS

An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 206 children aged 6-18 years with type-1 diabetes mellitus having regular follow-ups at the University of Gondar comprehensive and Specialized Hospital (UoGCSH) over three three-month period. Data was collected by trained physicians using interviewer-administered structured questionnaires. Convenient sampling technique was applied and Participants were selected sequentially until the sample size was achieved. Both bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used for Model fitness and the strength of association was determined using an OR, p-value of < 0.05 and 95% CI.

RESULTS

The prevalence of psychiatric problems was 11.7% and those children living with only either of the parent (AOR = 8.39, 95%: 1.5-46), living with other relatives (AOR = 11.3, 95% CI: 1.97-64.7), more than 5 family size (AOR = 0.3, 95%CI: 0.1-1.2), fathers attended formal education (AOR = 0.3, 95%: 0.04-1.73), a patient having good glycemic control (AOR = 0.2, 95%: 0.04-0.67) and those with a family history of diabetes mellitus(AOR = 5.2, 95% CI: 1.2-22.1) were significantly associated with a psychiatric problem in diabetic aged 6-18 years with p-value < 0.05.

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of psychiatric problems in diabetic children was significantly high and children living with single parent, paternal educational status, glycemic control, family history of diabetes, and family size were found to have significant association with the occurrence of psychiatric problems in diabetic children.

The relationship between diabetic ketoacidosis and suicidal or self-injurious behaviour: A systematic review

Background

It has been suggested that there may be an association between type 1 diabetes (T1DM) and suicide, with one study reporting a rate 11 times that of the general population The aim of this paper was to investigate the association between Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA: a life-threatening acute complication of T1DM) and suicidal behaviours in people with T1DM.

Methods

We performed a search of the following databases: PubMed, PsychInfo, and Embase for papers which explored the association between suicidal behaviours and self-harm with DKA in T1DM. We excluded case reports and review papers.

Results

Only three papers explored the relationship between DKA and self-harm. One study found an association between DKA and self-harm in a national cohort of people with type 1 diabetes and schizophrenia. The second found a significant increase in psychiatric admissions for self-harm following an episode of DKA. The third study reported that patients with diabetes and a history of self-harm were at elevated risk of a range of diabetes complications including DKA. These findings indicate an association between DKA and self-harm and support the guidelines in recommending a psychosocial assessment where DKA cannot be explained.

Conclusions

This review suggests that DKA is associated with suicidal or self-injurious behaviours. The small number of studies and the seriousness of this issue highlight the importance of further research on this topic, to improve the evidence base for the identification and treatment of risk of suicidal behaviours in people with T1DM.

A thematic analysis of YouTube comments on a television documentary titled 'Diabulimia: The World's most dangerous eating disorder'

AIM

Omitting insulin for fear of weight gain is a type of disordered eating (also labelled as diabulimia) common in type 1 diabetes (T1D) and is associated with a worse biomedical prognosis but is not a formally recognised condition. This research explored the public's opinion of diabulimia as a condition as presented in a television documentary.

METHODS

We conducted a coding reliability thematic analysis using NVivo software of the original comments to a YouTube documentary 'Diabulimia: The World's Most Dangerous Eating Disorder' between 24 September 2017 and 16 June 2020.

RESULTS

Of 1424 original comments, 1264 were eligible and uploaded into NVivo 12. The commenters were people with T1D, family and friends, health care professionals, and the wider public who collectively had questions, personal stories and/or opinions. Three main themes were discerned: lack of awareness of diabulimia as a condition; the importance of support; diabulimia as a psychiatric condition in the diabetes setting.

CONCLUSION

This analysis of social media comments found that there is a lack of awareness of diabulimia amongst patients, their families and friends, and healthcare professionals and that there were many commenters who had the experience of disordered eating with T1D. This study has reported on themes that suggest there may be an eating disorder specifically in people with T1D and that further work is needed to understand the diagnostic criteria for diabulimia in order to develop effective treatments.

The management of diabetic ketoacidosis in adults-An updated guideline from the Joint British Diabetes Society for Inpatient Care

This article summarises the Joint British Diabetes Societies for Inpatient Care guidelines on the management of ketoacidosis; available at https://abcd.care/resource/management-diabetic-ketoacidosis-dka-adults. The document explicitly states that when a person aged 16-18 is under the care of the paediatric team, then the paediatric guideline should be used, and if they are cared for by an adult team, then this guideline should be used. The guideline takes into account new evidence on the use of the previous version of this document, particularly the high prevalence of hypoglycaemia and hypokalaemia, and recommends that when the glucose concentration drops below 14 mmol/L, that de-escalating the insulin infusion rate from 0.1 to 0.05 units/kg/h should be considered. Furthermore, a section has been added to address the recognition that use of sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors is associated with an increased risk of euglycaemic ketoacidosis. The management of ketoacidosis in people with end-stage renal failure or on dialysis is also mentioned. Finally, the algorithms to illustrate the guideline have been updated.

Risk Factors, Trends, and Preventive Measures for 30-Day Unplanned Diabetic Ketoacidosis Readmissions in the Pediatric Population

Background There has been a steady rise in types 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus among the youth in the USA from 2001 to 2017. Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a common and preventable presentation of both types of diabetes mellitus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) United States Diabetes Surveillance System, during 2004-2019 an increase in DKA hospitalization rates by 59.4% was noted, with people aged less than 45 years having the highest rates. Readmissions reflect the quality of disease management, which is integrally tied to care coordination and communication with the patient and their families. This study analyzes the trends and risk factors contributing to 30-day unplanned DKA readmissions in the pediatric age group and looks into possible preventive measures to decrease them. Methods A retrospective study was performed using the National Readmission Database (NRD) from January 1, 2017, to December 1, 2017. Pediatric patients aged 18 years and younger with the primary diagnosis of DKA were included using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) code E10.10. All statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 1.0.0.1327 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Pearson's chi-square test was used for categorical variables and Mann-Whitney U test was used for continuous variables. To independently determine the predictors of readmission within each clinical variable, multiple logistic regressions with values presented as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were performed. Results A weighted total of 19,519 DKA-related pediatric index admissions were identified from the 2017 NRD. Of these pediatric patients, 831 (4.3%) had 30-day DKA readmission. The median age of a child for readmission was 16 years with an interquartile range of 0 to 18 years. A sharp rise in 30-day DKA readmissions was noted for ages 16 years and over. Females in the 0-25th percentile median household income category, with Medicaid covered, large metropolitan areas with at least 1 million residents, and metropolitan teaching hospitals were found to have a statistically significant higher percentage of readmissions. The mean length of stay for those who had a DKA readmission was 2.06 days, with a standard deviation of 1.84 days. The mean hospital charges for those who had a DKA readmission were $ 20,339.70. The 30-day DKA readmission odds were seen to be increased for female patients, Medicaid-insured patients, admissions at metropolitan non-teaching hospitals, and children from 0-25th percentile median household income category. Conclusion There has not been much of a change in the trend and risk factors contributing to the 30-day unplanned DKA readmissions over the years despite the steady rise in cases of diabetes mellitus. The length of stay for those who did not get readmitted within 30 days was longer than for those who did. This could reflect more comprehensive care and discharge planning that may have prevented them from readmission. Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that demands a team effort from the patient, family, healthcare personnel, insurance companies, and lawmakers. There is scope for a lot of improvement with the way our patients are being managed, and a more holistic approach needs to be devised.