PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Naeem, Mohammed A. AU - Al-Alem, Hala A. AU - Al-Dubayee, Mohammed S. AU - Al-Juraibah, Fahad N. AU - Omair, Amir AU - Al-Ruwaili, AbdulKarim S. AU - Al-Saleh, Abdullah M. TI - Characteristics of pediatric diabetic ketoacidosis patients in Saudi Arabia AID - 10.15537/smj.2015.1.9763 DP - 2015 Jan 01 TA - Saudi Medical Journal PG - 20--25 VI - 36 IP - 1 4099 - http://smj.org.sa/content/36/1/20.short 4100 - http://smj.org.sa/content/36/1/20.full SO - Saudi Med J2015 Jan 01; 36 AB - Objectives: To evaluate the clinical and biochemical characteristics of children with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).Methods: In this retrospective study conducted between June 2012 and November 2013 at the King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we evaluated pediatric DKA admissions from 1995-2008 (Phase 1). From the case files, we obtained information related to patients’ age, gender, weight, presenting complaints, serum biochemical profile, and management.Results: This study included 373 DKA admissions with a median age of 11 years (interquartile range [IQR]:8-13). The patients in the subgroup of age more than 10 years old had the highest proportion of admissions (n=250, 67%, p<0.000). The median duration of diagnosis of diabetes mellitus (DM) was 3 years (IQR:2-6). New-onset DM was 47%. Predominant precipitating cause was acute illness, mostly viral syndrome in 22% of all cases, and non-compliance to insulin regimen was in 79% of the diagnosed diabetic cases. Blood glucose, pH, anion gap, serum osmolality, serum potassium, and serum phosphate showed the highest change during the initial 6 hours of management, while trends of serum bicarbonate and blood urea nitrogen demonstrated a predominant change in the initial 12 hours.Conclusion: The notable findings in this study, such as, higher mean age of presentation, high rate of non-compliance to insulin as the cause of precipitation, and a high prevalence of abdominal pain at presentation should be followed up with further comparative studies.