Hospitalizations for ketoacidosis in type 1 diabetes mellitus, 2008 to 2018

The objective of this study was to characterize epidemiological trends, outcomes in hospitalized patients, and the disease burden of hospitalizations for diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). This was a retrospective interrupted trends study involving hospitalizations for DKA in patients with T1DM in the US from 2008 to 2018 using data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample. The total number of hospitalizations during each calendar year was obtained, and trends in inpatient mortality rate, mean length of hospital stay (LOS), and mean total hospital cost (THC) were calculated. Between 2008 and 2018, there was a trend toward increasing hospitalizations for T1DM with DKA (P-trend <0.001). Over the decade, there was a steady rise in the proportion of patients with a Charlson comorbidity index >1. There was no statistically significant change in adjusted inpatient mortality in patients with T1DM admitted for DKA over the study period despite an apparent trend of a decreasing crude mortality rate (P-trend = 0.063). There was a statistically significant decrease in both LOS and THC over the study period. In conclusion, there was a significant decrease in both LOS and THC, potentially reflecting improvements in the management of DKA in patients with T1DM.