Western Journal of Emergency Medicine: Integrating Emergency Care with Population Health

Introduction: Euglycemic diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) (glucose <250 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) has increased in recognition since introduction of sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors but remains challenging to diagnose and manage without the hyperglycemia that is otherwise central to diagnosing DKA, and with increased risk for hypoglycemia with insulin use. Our objective was to compare key resource utilization and safety outcomes between patients with euglycemic and hyperglycemic DKA from the same period.

Methods: This is a retrospective review of adult emergency department patients in DKA at an academic medical center. Patients were included if they were >18 years old, met criteria for DKA on initial laboratories (pH ≤7.30, serum bicarbonate ≤18 millimoles per liter [mmol/L], anion gap ≥10), and were managed via a standardized DKA order set. Patients were divided into euglycemic (<250 milligrams per deciliter [mg/dL]) vs hyperglycemic (≥250 mg/dL) cohorts by presenting glucose. We extracted and analyzed patient demographics, resource utilization, and safety outcomes. Etiologies of euglycemia were obtained by manual chart review. For comparisons between groups we used independent-group t-tests for continuous variables and chi-squared tests for binary variables, with alpha 0.05.

Results: We identified 629 patients with DKA: 44 euglycemic and 585 hyperglycemic. Euglycemic patients had milder DKA on presentation (higher pH and bicarbonate, lower anion gap; P < 0.05) and lower initial glucose (195 vs 561 mg/dL, P < 0.001) and potassium (4.3 vs 5.3 mmol/L, P < 0.001). Etiologies of euglycemia were insulin use prior to arrival (57%), poor oral intake with baseline insulin use (29%), and SGLT2 inhibitor use (14%). Mean time on insulin infusion was shorter for those with euglycemic DKA: 13.5 vs 19.4 hours, P = 0.003. Mean times to first bicarbonate >18 mmol/L and first long-acting insulin were similar. Incidence of hypoglycemia (<70 mg/dL) while on insulin infusion was significantly higher for those with euglycemic DKA (18.2 vs 4.8%, P = 0.02); incidence of hypokalemia (<3.3 mmol/L) was 27.3 vs 19.1% (P = 0.23).

Conclusion: Compared to hyperglycemic DKA patients managed in the same protocolized fashion, euglycemic DKA patients were on insulin infusions 5.9 hours less, yet experienced hypoglycemia over three times more frequently. Future work can investigate treatment strategies for euglycemic DKA to minimize adverse events, especially iatrogenic hypoglycemia.