Yuriy Zamota, Scott Edele, Yuliya Zamota, Ivan Rodriguez, Bishoy Goubran and Marcos A Sanchez Gonzalez*

Tissue hypoxia has been previously described in diabetes, it is usually ascribed to local inflammatory changes and micro vascular complications. Hypoxia manifests clinically by an array of signs and symptoms, leading to detrimental effects including aggravating the diabetic complications and worsening the prognosis. However, a simple bed side scale for detection of hypoxic manifestations in inpatients remains to be developed. The aim of this study was to identify the most common clinical signs of hypoxia patients with uncontrolled type II Diabetes mellitus age 70 or older and formulate an effective clinical tool for recognition of hypoxic states in this population. To that end medical records from admission to discharge were assessed to look for presence of any of the following parameters: BP > 140/90, HR > 100, RR > 20, arrhythmias, ABG, cyanosis, impaired judgment, supplemental oxygenation, presence respiratory treatment as hospital medications, history of cardiovascular disease, history of pulmonary disease, use of cardiovascular medications at home, use of respiratory medications at home, and length of stay in hospital. Results revealed an association between uncontrolled Type II Diabetes Mellitus and hypoxic states in the elderly, and six statistically significant criteria were identified and grouped together to create a hypoxic scale. Practical implementation of this scale can result in lower cost of healthcare by decreasing length of hospital stay through early recognition of hypoxic state, activation of medical care to prevent destabilization of the patient, and exercise higher level of medical care later in hospital course.

Cite this Article: Zamota Y, Edele S, Zamota Y, Rodriguez I, Goubran B, Developing a Scale to Assess Hypoxia severity in Hospitalized Elderly Patients with Poor Glycemic Control. Sci J Pulm Respir Med. 2017;1(2): 024-027.

Published: 21 October 2017