Diabetic coma in the mortality of patients with diabetes mellitus

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Statistics on the causes of death of patients with diabetes mellitus do not correspond to real indicators because of the insufficient level of diagnosis at the post-mortem stage of research in most regions of the country. AIM: This study aimed to statistically analyze the mortality of patients with diabetes as a result of diabetic coma in the period from 2017 to 2020. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study examined blood and vitreous body of the eyes from 4444 patients with diabetes mellitus. The levels of glycohemoglobin in the blood and glucose, lactate, and acetoacetate in the vitreous body of the eyes were determined. The diagnosis of diabetic coma was made taking into account previously developed criteria. RESULTS: A total of 692 (15.6%) patients with diabetes mellitus died of diabetic coma. Diabetic coma-related deaths occupy a much larger percentage of cases than is available in statistical data because of the insufficient implementation of laboratory tests at the post-mortem stage of diagnosis and restricted coding of the cause of diabetic coma-related death of patients with diabetes mellitus. Methods for diagnosing diabetic comas are easy to perform, guarantee high accuracy and reliability of results, and are available for any specialized laboratory. CONCLUSION: The most common precomatous state (the beginning of the development of hyperosmolar non-ketoacidotic coma), which in combination with coma itself, leads to the highest rates of diabetic coma-related death. In recent years, diabetic coma-related death tended to reduce.