Objective:

Describe the treatment in a first-level hospital of patients who consulted the emergency department for hyperglycemia, the previous management and its probable relationship with new hyperglycemia.

Materials and methods:

Observational cross-sectional study with a one-year follow-up in patients over 18 years of age with hyperglycemia who consulted in the emergency department between September-2016 and August-2017. The medical records were reviewed and sociodemographic, clinical, and pharmacological variables were established. Descriptive statistics, X2 and binary logistic regression models (P <0.05) were used.

Results:

There were 86 patients with hyperglycemia (mean age 52.1 ± 14.93 years). It was found that in 58.1% of cases there was a previous diagnosis of diabetes mellitus; 87.2% were treated with crystalline insulin and 47.0% of the patients consulted again for a hyperglycemic crisis in the six months after discharge.

Conclusion:

There is a high proportion of patients with non-ketonic, non-hyperosmolar hyperglycemia who were unaware of having diabetes mellitus. In addition, almost half of the patients consult again for a hyperglycemic attack in the following six months after discharge.

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