Incidence of undiagnosed prediabetes and diabetes mellitus in admitted patients at the medical clinical ward of a public hospital from Southern Brazil

Abstract

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is an extremely common disease in clinical practice. There is still no recommendation for routine investigation in hospitalized patients and nor is the laboratory test to be used in these cases. Objective: To detect pre-diabetes and diabetes mellitus in patients without previous diagnosis, hospitalized in the ward of medical clinic in a university hospital in the South of Brazil and possible associated factors. Methodology: Cross-sectional observational study with a quantitative approach. Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected. Glycated hemoglobin values ​​were used to detect pre-diabetes and diabetes. Pearson's Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test were used to compare the groups and the Pearson and Spearman coefficients were used for correlation, with a significance level of 5%. Results: The 99 patients studied had a mean age of 61,02±16.93 years, of which 50,51% were female. Pre-diabetes were detected in 27,7% and diabetes in 3,03%. Patients with asthma and/or COPD (OR=3,2; CI95% 1,2-8,4) and capillary glycemia greater than 150 mg/dL (OR=4,4; CI95% 0,9-19,7) were significantly more likely to detect pre-diabetes or diabetes mellitus. There was a positive and significant correlation between levels of glycated hemoglobin with age and capillary glycemia, and between levels of systolic blood pressure with Body Mass Index. Conclusion: A high percentage of pre-diabetes detection was observed, which suggests the investigation of patients hospitalized for other causes, especially those diagnosed with asthma and/or COPD and with capillary glycemia greater than 150mg/dL.