Table 1.
Characteristics of included hyperglycemia visits organized by whether they had recurrent visits to the ED within 30 days for hyperglycemia (n = 156) or not (n = 677), with univariate association
| Characteristic | Overall ED visits n = 833 |
Recurrent visit for hyperglycemia n = 156 (18.7%) |
No recurrent visit for hyperglycemia n = 677 (81.3%) |
p value* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male (%) | 455 (54.6) | 88 (56.4) | 367 (54.2) | 0.62 |
| Mean age, years (SD) | 48.8 (19.5) | 45.8 (22.4) | 49.5 (18.7) | 0.03 |
| Range | 18–95 | 18–88 | 18–95 | |
| <25 years (%) | 126 (15.1) | 48 (30.8) | 78 (11.5) | <0.01 |
| Vital signs | ||||
| Mean heart rate, bpm (SD) | 96.4 (21.6) | 93.0 (19.6) | 97.2 (21.9) | 0.07 |
| Heart rate > 110 bpm (%) | 188 (22.6) | 19 (12.2) | 169 (25.0) | <0.01 |
| Systolic blood pressure <90 mm Hg (%) | 14 (1.7) | 3 (1.9) | 11 (1.6) | N/A |
| Systolic blood pressure 90–150 mm Hg (%) | 635 (76.2) | 133 (85.3) | 502 (74.2) | <0.01 |
| Systolic blood pressure >150 mm Hg (%) | 184 (22.1) | 20 (12.8) | 164 (24.2) | <0.01 |
| Temperature >38.0 or <36.0 °C on arrival (%) | 192 (23.0) | 28 (17.9) | 164 (24.2) | 0.09 |
| Mean blood glucose mmol/L (SD) | 27.6 (12.6) | 29.0 (11.9) | 27.3 (12.8) | 0.14 |
| Range | 3.1–92 | 4.9–74.5 | 3.1–92 | |
| >20 mmol/L (%) | 557 (66.9) | 119 (76.3) | 438 (64.7) | <0.01 |
| Arrival by EMS (%) | 383 (46.0) | 93 (59.6) | 290 (42.8) | <0.01 |
| CTAS 1 or 2 (%) | 478 (57.4) | 86 (55.1) | 392 (57.9) | 0.53 |
| From nursing home or long-term care facility (%) | 56 (6.7) | 18 (11.5) | 38 (5.6) | 0.008 |
| Previously known history of DM (%) | 721 (86.6) | 146 (93.6) | 575 (84.9) | 0.004 |
| DM1 | 325 (39.0) | 82 (52.6) | 243 (35.9) | <0.01 |
| DM2 | 396 (47.6) | 64 (41.0) | 332 (49.0) | 0.07 |
| New DM diagnosis in ED | 112 (13.4) | 10 (6.4) | 102 (15.1) | 0.004 |
| Diabetic medications (%) | ||||
| Oral hypoglycemic | 329 (39.5) | 73 (46.8) | 256 (37.8) | 0.04 |
| Subcutaneous insulin | 481 (57.7) | 115 (73.7) | 366 (54.1) | <0.01 |
| Insulin pump | 47 (5.6) | 10 (6.4) | 37 (5.5) | 0.65 |
| Physicians (%) | ||||
| Family physician | 711 (85.4) | 147 (94.2) | 564 (83.3) | <0.01 |
| Internist or endocrinologist | 354 (42.5) | 87 (55.8) | 267 (39.4) | <0.01 |
| Past medical history (%) | ||||
| Hypertension | 383 (46.0) | 68 (43.6) | 315 (46.5) | 0.51 |
| Hyperlipidemia | 315 (37.8) | 58 (37.2) | 257 (38.0) | 0.86 |
| Coronary artery disease | 138 (16.6) | 28 (17.9) | 110 (16.2) | 0.60 |
| Chronic renal failure | 114 (13.7) | 15 (9.6) | 99 (14.6) | 0.10 |
| Stroke/transient ischemic attack | 60 (7.2) | 13 (8.3) | 47 (6.9) | 0.54 |
| Psychiatric illness | 291 (34.9) | 81 (51.9) | 210 (31.0) | <0.01 |
| Intravenous drug abuse | 34 (4.1) | 4 (2.6) | 30 (4.4) | 0.29 |
| Alcohol abuse | 55 (6.6) | 7 (4.5) | 48 (7.1) | 0.24 |
SD standard deviation, bpm beats per minute, EMS emergency medical services, CTAS Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale, DM diabetes mellitus.
*p value compares characteristic for those with vs. without a recurrent visit for hyperglycemia within 30 days