Abstract
Ketosis-prone diabetes is an acute complication of diabetes resulting from ketone accumulation in the blood. Despite the high rate of ketosis-prone diabetes described, there is very little information on the epidemiology of this inaugural complication of diabetes in Tunisia. This study aims to determine the epidemiological and clinical features and the laboratory tests parameters of inaugural ketoses in a Hospital in Tunisian. We conducted a retrospective, cross-sectional exhaustive study of patients admitted with inaugural ketosis over the period January 2010 - August 2016. The study population was divided into 2 groups according to the presence or not of anti-pancreatic autoimmunity: the DAI group consisted of all patients with autoimmunity, the DNAI group consisted of all patients without autoimmunity. Our study included 391 patients, with a sex ratio of 226 men/125 women, the average age was 34 ± 14.33 years. There was a male predominance (68%) in the general population. The age of disease onset was significantly lower in the DAI group. A factor that contributed to ketosis onset was found in 77.7% of the overall study population, it was significantly more frequent in the DAI group than in the DNAI group. The most common factor was viral infections. Thyroid antibodies were significantly higher in the DAI group. Ketosis is a common factor leading to inaugural decompensation of diabetes in Tunisia. Young adult male is the most affected group of population reported in the literature, with the absence of autimmunity, and a clinical profile of type 2 diabetes.