Annual Trend in Hypoglycemia Emergency Cases in Oman: A Single Center Retrospective Study

This study aimed to estimate the incidence and trends of hypoglycemia cases admitted to the emergency department of a tertiary hospital in Oman before the COVID-19 pandemic.

We retrospectively reviewed the hospital records of all patients aged ≥ 15 years admitted to the emergency department with hypoglycemia (random blood glucose level ≤ 3.9 mmol/L) between January 2010 and January 2017.

A total of 242 patients were admitted with hypoglycemia, with an incidence increasing from 3.31 to 5.25 per 10 000 individuals during the study period. Non-diabetic patients exhibited significantly higher rates of abnormal heart rates compared to those with diabetes (p =0.010). Non-diabetics were more likely to have liver disease, liver cirrhosis, malignancies, exposure to drugs/toxins, and infections (p < 0.050), while diabetic patients had significantly higher rates of cerebrovascular diseases (p < 0.050). To manage hypoglycemia, intravenous dextrose was administered significantly more for patients with diabetes compared to non-diabetics (p=0.015). In the study cohort, glucagon was administered to only one patient.

The incidence of hypoglycemia presentations increased during the study period. Intravenous dextrose was the primary management approach for diabetic patients, and glucagon use was minimal. Further investigation is required to decipher the hypoglycemia trends in the post-pandemic period.