Factors associated with hospitalization among patients with diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the factors and the relative risk associated with admission of patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Methods: The sample included one hundred twenty-eight patients with type II DM. Seventy-seven patients who were admitted within six months of a hospitalization to one hospital from the first of February to the 31st of August 2014, were compared with fifty-one patients who regularly attended an outpatient clinic and had no hospitalizations. Results: Hospitalization probabilities among patients who had only diet and exercise or took oral diabetic medication were 0.03 (p=.004) and 0.21 (p=.007) times independently lower than the ones with insulin injection. The risks for hospitalization increases 6.33 times if there is absence of a spouse (p=.027) whereas the presence of a spouse seems to make hospitalization less likely. The risk among the ones having diabetic complications was 5.15 times higher than ones having no recognition of the complications (p=.040). For every one point increase in self-efficacy and every 1 mg/dL increase in high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, there was a 0.84 (p=.005) and a 0.96 (p=.036) decrease in hospitalization risk, respectively. Conclusion: Nurses should be sensitive to the risk groups of hospital admission among patients with DM including no spouse, insulin injection, diabetic complications, low self-efficacy, and low HDL cholesterol.