Risk factors and outcomes of severe hypoglycaemia requiring hospital admission: a retrospective study

This is a retrospective study intended to determine the prevalence of severe hypoglycaemia requiring admission to Mater Dei Hospital from January to December 2018. We identified risk factors associated with hospital admission and conducted a survival analysis of the cohort. All patients admitted with diabetes and hypoglycaemia were identified by means of hospital admission database, clinical notes, discharge summaries and iSOFT clinical manager. A Cox regression model and a multivariate analysis were utilised to study survival analysis at one year after admission in relation to management strategies, comorbidity and length of hospital stay. A total of 167 episodes (0.77%) of hypoglycaemia admissions satisfying inclusion criteria were identified out of 21,589 medical admissions. Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) was present in 154 patients (92.2%), mean age was 71.5 years (SD 15.5) and mean length of stay was 4.4 days (SD 5.3). A survival analysis showed a negative association with a higher Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) score (95% CI 1.132–1.516, p