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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter December 7, 2018

Utilizing serum bicarbonate instead of venous pH to transition from intravenous to subcutaneous insulin shortens the duration of insulin infusion in pediatric diabetic ketoacidosis

  • Jennifer Gauntt EMAIL logo , Priya Vaidyanathan and Sonali Basu

Abstract

Background

Standard therapy of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in pediatrics involves intravenous (IV) infusion of regular insulin until correction of acidosis, followed by transition to subcutaneous (SC) insulin. It is unclear what laboratory marker best indicates correction of acidosis. We hypothesized that an institutional protocol change to determine correction of acidosis based on serum bicarbonate level instead of venous pH would shorten the duration of insulin infusion and decrease the number of pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) therapies without an increase in adverse events.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective (pre/post) analysis of records for patients admitted with DKA to the PICU of a large tertiary care children’s hospital before and after a transition-criteria protocol change. Outcomes were compared between patients in the pH transition group (transition when venous pH≥7.3) and the bicarbonate transition group (transition when serum bicarbonate ≥15 mmol/L).

Results

We evaluated 274 patient records (n=142 pH transition group, n=132 bicarbonate transition group). Duration of insulin infusion was shorter in the bicarbonate transition group (18.5 vs. 15.4 h, p=0.008). PICU length of stay was 3.2 h shorter in the bicarbonate transition group (26.0 vs. 22.8 h, p=0.04). There was no difference in the number of adverse events between the groups.

Conclusions

Transitioning patients from IV to SC insulin based on serum bicarbonate instead of venous pH led to a shorter duration of insulin infusion with a reduction in the number of PICU therapies without an increase in the number of adverse events.


*Corresponding author: Jennifer Gauntt, MD, Division of Cardiology, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, 700 Children’s Drive, Columbus, OH 43205, USA, Phone: +614-722-0596

Acknowledgments

Dr. Gauntt wishes to acknowledge the members of her Scholarship Oversight Committee: Amanda Levin MD, Vanessa Madrigal MD, Sheela N. Magge MD, MSCE and Anita Patel MD.

  1. Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: None declared.

  3. Employment or leadership: None declared.

  4. Honorarium: None declared.

  5. Competing interests: The funding organization(s) played no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the report for publication.

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Supplementary Material

The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/jpem-2018-0394).



Article note

his work was completed while Dr. Gauntt was a Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Fellow at Children’s National Health System.


Received: 2018-09-11
Accepted: 2018-11-02
Published Online: 2018-12-07
Published in Print: 2019-01-28

©2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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