Effect of Diabetes on Severity of Illness, Length of Hospital Stay and Mortality among Patients Brought by Emergency Medical System (EMS)

Background: In view of growing epidemic of diabetes it is important to assess how it affects various parameters of the disease especially in developing countries. Aim: To compare severity of illness, length of various hos pital stays and mortality in diabetics and non-diabetics. Material and methods: It was hospital record based study carried out at Deena Nath Mangeshkar Hospital and research centre, Pune. Patients admitted to intensive care unit from 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2014 through emergency medical services were enrolled. Socio-demographic information, chief complaints, diabetes status, co-morbidities, Glasgow coma scale at initial examination, definitive diagnosis, and length of stay in intensive care unit, wards and total hospital stay and outcome of the patient were recorded from available data. Results: Data 1951 patients were analyzed. 37.6% were females, 62.4% were males. 45.8% were diabetics, out of them 28.81% were new cases. Though, co-morbidities were significantly more among diabetics, they were significantly less to have severe condition according to Glasgow coma scale (p=0.003). Diabetics had significantly less intensive care unit stay than non-diabetics (Mean 5.98 days (±6.579) vs 7.52 (±9.293) respectively, p=0.008). Ward stay and total hospital stay did not differ. Mortality did not differ among diabetics and non-diabetics (23.8% and 23.6% respectively, p=0.947). Conclusion: Though proportion of diabetics was very high among study subjects, diabetes did not contribute to any adverse outcome or length of hospital stay.