Pediatric Diabetes

Research Article

Emergency Department Presentations of Diabetic Ketoacidosis in a Large Cohort of Children

Table 1

Comparison between DKA episodes in children with newly vs. previously diagnosed diabetes.
Diabetes historyp-Value
Newly diagnosed (N = 799)Previously diagnosed (N = 880)
Age (years)10.0 (6.0, 12.0)13.0 (11.0, 15.0)<0.001
Male sex1388 (48.6)393 (44.7)0.12
Maternal parental education1,2<0.001
 High school/GED or less157 (26.9)241 (39.1)
 Some college/vocational school159 (27.3)224 (36.3)
 College degree or more267 (45.8)152 (24.6)
Household income1,2<0.001
 Less than $40,000182 (31.4)342 (53.2)
 $40,000–$99,999209 (36.1)218 (33.9)
 $100,000 or more188 (32.5)83 (12.9)
Clinical characteristics
 Headache at presentation195 (11.9)253 (28.8)<0.001
 Clinically apparent cerebral injury115 (1.9)19 (2.2)0.73
Laboratory results (baseline)3
 BUN (mg/dL)13 (10, 17)19 (15, 22)<0.001
 Bicarbonate (mEq/L)9 (6, 11)9 (6, 12)0.01
 Creatinine Z-Score for age (standard units)0.3 (−0.1, 0.8)0.6 (0.3, 1.2)<0.001
 Glucose (mg/dL)519 (425, 615)495 (400, 600)<0.001
 Potassium (mEq/L)4.4 (3.9, 5.0)5.1 (4.6, 5.7)<0.001
 Sodium corrected (mEq/L)140 (137, 144)142 (138, 145)<0.001
 pCO2 (mm Hg)24 (20, 29)27 (22, 32)<0.001
 pH7.20 (7.11, 7.26)7.17 (7.10, 7.23)<0.001
1N (%) and p-values from Fisher’s exact tests are presented for categorical characteristics; median (25th and 75th percentiles) and p-values from Wilcoxon rank sum tests are presented for all other characteristics. 2Maternal parental education and household income information were not collected for the retrospective cohort; number nonmissing and analyzed were 583 newly diagnosed and 617 previously diagnosed for maternal parental education, and 579 newly diagnosed and 643 previously diagnosed for household income. 3Baseline laboratory values were missing as follows (newly diagnosed/previously diagnosed): BUN (49/48), bicarbonate (40/28), creatinine (48/52), glucose (19/7), potassium (35/22), sodium (36/23), pCO2 (55/40), and pH (51/37).