Prehospital care of hypoglycaemia

Introduction: Hypoglycemia is clinical condition characterized by the level of glucose in the blood less than 3,5mmol/l. Severe hypoglycemia, unless is detected on time and treated, can cause brain damage, while Hypoglycemia lasting more than an hour can cause brain death. Objectives: to analyze the frequency of hypoglycemia crises within the patients with diabetes mellitus, examined on site and at the Emergency Room of Emergency Department in Novi Pazar (EDNP). Methodology: Retrospective analysis of 52593 patients, examined at ER, from January 01, 2019. Till December 31, 2019. Has been conducted. Protocol data of the patients with diabetes mellitus and confirmed diagnosis of hypoglycemia have been analyzed. Moreover, demographic structure, distribution of calls by months and time interval when the ER teams reacted, have been analyzed. Special attention paid to the patients (younger and older) who, besides hypoglycemic crisis, had epileptic seizures. Results: In the period from January 01, 2019. Till December 31, 2019. at Emergency Department in Novi Pazar 52593 patients have been examined. Out of that number 7201 were diagnosed with diabetesmellitus type 1 and type 2, or 13,69% from the total number of examined patients. Women were more represented with the number of 3728 (51,77%), while 3473 patients were men. Glycaemia test was done 2794 times, where among 752 (10,44%) patients hypoglycemia was confirmed. Most cases of the hypoglycemia were diagnosed on the site, 701 (93,21%), while 51 cases (6,78%) were diagnosed at the ER. The value of Glycaemia from 3,5 till 3,2 mmol/l was measured within 323 (42,95%) patients, whereas 207 patients (27,52%) were with the value from 3,1 and 2,2 mmol/l. Value of 2,1 mmol/l and less was measured among 222 (29,52%) patients. In the group of 222 patients, epileptic seizure was detected within 151 (68,01%) patients. Conclusion: Hypoglycemia was diagnosed in 10% of patients with diabetes mellitus. We diagnosed severe hypoglycemia in 222 patients. There were several such out of the hospital interventions, mostly during August and usually in the morning hours.