Abstract:
Abstract
Introduction- Electrolyte imbalance predominately affect diabetic patients due to hyperglycemia
,which rise plasma osmolality and impaired renal function contributing to change electrolyte level.
Our study aimed to assess prevalence of electrolyte imbalance and its associated factors among
diabetic patients and apparently healthy control groups attending University of Gondar
Comprehensive Specialized Hospital.
Methods - A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted by using systemic random
sampling technique.130 diabetic patients and 130control groups were recruited. The sociodemographic, behavioral and clinical data was collected using structured questionnaire. Besides,
each study participant anthropometric measurements was done by the data collectors. Then 5ml of
the blood sample was collected from each participant. Electrolyte were measured based on ionselective electrode methods, whereas fasting blood glucose, and creatinine were measured by
spectrophotometric enzyme hexokinase, and Jaffe reaction methods respectively. The data was
entered into Epi-data version 4.6 and analyzed using STATA version14. Mann-Whitney U-tests
test were used to medians comparison for abnormally distributed data and independent t-test were
used to mean comparison for normally distributed data. Multiple logistic regression analysis was
done to determine the factors associated with electrolyte imbalances. P-value <0.05 was
considered statistically significant.
Result -: The overall prevalence of electrolyte imbalance among diabetic patients were 83.07%,
and 52.31% were from control groups. The mean of Na+ and the median level of Mg2+ and Ca2+
were significantly decreased. However, the mean level of CI was significantly increased in diabetic
patients as compared to control groups. Factors were significantly associated with electrolyte
imbalance include: alcohol consumption AOR = 3.34 [1.02-10.9], no formal education AOR =
5.38 [1.14-25.4], hyperglycemia AOR = 6.32 [2.04-19.5], and urbanization AOR = 5.6 [1.44-22.3]
Conclusion- Diabetic patients have more likely to develop electrolyte imbalance than control
groups. Diabetic participants showed a significantly reducing Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+ level and
significantly increasing CI- level when compared to control groups. Hyperglycemia, Alcohol
drinking habits, urbanization and no formal education were statistically significantly associated
with electrolyte imbalance.
Key word- Electrolyte imbalances; diabetes mellitus; associated factor, Ethiopia
