[Ketoacidosis in children and teenagers in Congo].

Diabetes mellitus is frequent in African children and adolescents. Its treatment faces some problems and complications. Ketoacidosis is among the main complications and its prognosis is bad. This retrospective study reports 93 cases of young patients observed over 10 years. It aims at presenting the characteristics of ketoacidosis in Brazzaville. The results of this study have reported ketoacidosis in 79.3% of the cases. Stopping the treatment (48.1%) and infections (28.6%) were the main factors. In 18.3% of the cases, the disease started by ketoacidosis. Despite the high mortality rate (18.2%), a favourable evolution was observed in 83.3% of the cases. It is the first cause of death in children suffering Diabetes mellitus in the Department for diabetes mellitus and endocrine diseases at Brazzaville University Hospital. Health education of both parents and children, a qualified personnel should help reduce the frequency of this complication. Copyright John Libbey Eurotext 2003