Diabetic ketoacidosis in children in Khartoum city, Sudan.

Ninety episodes of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in 72 Sudanese children seen during a one year period were investigated. The age of the patients ranged from 3 to 16 years with a median of 12 years. Twenty-two episodes (24%) occurred in newly diagnosed patients and 68 (76%) in previously known diabetic children. The mean observation period defined as the number of days from each one of the episodes until next episode or end of survey divided by the total number of the episodes was 180 days. During this short period of observation 18 recurrent episodes were observed giving an annual recurrent rate of 40%. The classical triad of polyuria, polydipsia and weight loss was a presentation in 83 (92%) episodes; acute abdominal pain and/or vomiting were observed in 69 (77%) episodes and drowsiness or deep coma was seen in 31 (34%) episodes. The most common precipitating causes of DKA in the studied patients with known diabetes were acute infections accounting for 38% of episodes, insulin non-availability for 34% of episodes and errors of treatment for 25%. The outcome of treatment in the whole group was good in the 69 (96%) patients who recovered without complications, but 3 (4%) patients died.