People with diabetes at higher risk after discharge from hospital

Researchers at the University of Warwick have highlighted a series of risks that could be faced by people with diabetes on being discharged from hospital.

While procedures to discharge patients are in place, researchers decided to identify risk factors from a number of scientific papers.

In the recently published report in the Journal of Diabetes and its Complications, researchers identified 35 studies that considered the risk factors relating to mortality for patients discharged from hospital with diabetes.

These studies were analysed and identified a further 48 significant risk factors for mortality.

The report said that when patients are discharged from hospital those living with diabetes are at an increased risk of readmission and mortality.

While there are guidelines for discharging patients with diabetes to reduce these risks,  researchers from the Institute of Digital Healthcare at WMG, University of Warwick and Warwick Medical School have identified known risk factors for mortality in adult patients discharged from hospital with diabetes.

The 48 risk factors are grouped into the following nine categories:

• Demographic
• Socioeconomic
• Lifestyle
• Patient medical factors
• Inpatient stay factors
• Medication related
• Laboratory results
• Glycaemic status

Professor Theo Arvanitis, from the Institute of Digital Healthcare at WMG, University of Warwick said: “The most common risk factor is in the demographic category of age and the second most important factor is co-morbidity burden; this comes under the patient medical factors category, and means patients have more than one condition. We also identified BMI as a significant risk within the patient medical factors category, with those who were at the heavier end of the scales to be more at risk.

“Thirty-seven of the risk factors we identified from one research paper. This tell us that this research in general is still very early, and more studies are needed to identify the importance and possibly any other risk factors. This could decrease the mortality rate of people with diabetes being discharged from hospitals in the future.”

Read the report in the Journal of Diabetes and its Complications

Support DRWF by making a donation here

Find out more about DRWF-funded research here

Support DRWF by making a donation here

 Find out more about DRWF-funded research here

 Find out more about DRWF fundraising here

 For latest update follow DRWF on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

 To receive the charity’s latest bulletins as they become available, please sign up here

 Read DRWF diabetes information leaflets here

 Join the Diabetes Wellness Network here