The role of the emergency department in the management of diabetes and complications: a systematic review

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disease; its prevalence is increasing globally. DM has several complications such as hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia that require admission to hospital emergency services to be managed, especially in developing regions. There is no focus on the role of the emergency department (ED) regarding DM and its complications. The present study to identify the ED's role in managing diabetes and its associated complications by reviewing the previous studies concerned with this subject. PubMed, Science direct, and Google scholar databases were explored to obtain articles related to our current subject from 2017 to 2022. The keywords included were "Emergent, Emergency Department, Diabetes, Complications, Management, Hyperglycemia, Hypoglycaemia, Glycemic events, and Diabetic Ketoacidosis." The inclusion criteria were original studies that reported diabetic patients and patients with diabetic complications admitted to the ED. A total of 2,643 articles were obtained; only nine articles were eligible for our inclusion criteria. The nine studies included a total number of 176,160 patients. The problems reported included diabetes, glycemic events, diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), and diabetic coma. The management of diabetic coma, glycemic events, diabetes, and DKA in the ED was reported. The ED has a significant role in managing diabetes and its complications with successful management.