PREVENTION SPOTLIGHT: Kids with regular health care less likely to have life-threatening diabetic ketoacidosis
"Having a regular primary care provider was associated with a reduced risk of DKA at diabetes onset, but this protection reached statistical significance only among those 12-17 years of age," writes Dr. Meranda Nakhla, Montreal Children's Hospital and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, with coauthors. "Adolescents who had a regular family physician or pediatrician were 31% less likely or 38% less likely, respectively, to present with DKA relative to those without regular primary care."
The researchers looked at data on 3704 children with newly diagnosed
diabetes over the study period from 2006 to 2015. The mean age at diagnosis was 10 years and about 27% (996 children) presented with
diabetic ketoacidosis at time of diagnosis. About 59% (2177 children) had a regular primary care provider before diagnosis. Children of lower socioeconomic status or living in small cities were more likely to have a
diabetic ketoacidosis episode at diagnosis of diabetes than those of higher socioeconomic status or those living in urban areas.
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