1 in 5 Hospitalizations Involve Diabetes Patients

Diabetes as a reason for hospitalization varied greatly by region of the country, according to the report.  Southern states had the highest rate, 2,829 hospitalizations per 100,000 population, followed by the Midwest, 2742, and the Northeast, 2,565. The West had the lowest rate of hospital stays for patients with diabetes, 1,866.

The report emphasized that only 1.4% of all hospital stays were for patients whose primary reason for admission was diabetes.

Other leading reasons why patients with diabetes required hospitalization included:

• Congestive heart failure
• Coronary atherosclerosis
• Pneumonia
• Septicemia
• Heart attack
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Bronchiectasis
• Nonspecific chest pain
• Cardiac dysrhythmias
• Complication of a device, implant, or graft.

However, when a patient with diabetes was hospitalized, more often than not he or she had multiple co-morbidities, including hypertension, electrolyte disorders, chronic pulmonary disease, anemia, renal failure, obesity, congestive heart failure, hypothyroidism, depression and/or peripheral vascular disorder.  Hospitalized patients with diabetes had on average 2.6 co-morbidities, as opposed to 1.3 co-morbidities for patients without diabetes.