Prevalence of Dehydration and Use of Oral Electrolytes in Diabetic Adults and Older Adults with Nondiarrheal Conditions: A Retrospective, Real-world, Database Study.

Abstract

Introduction: Pediatric and geriatric populations are at a greater risk of dehydration than the adult population. Diabetes plays a synergistic role and makes persons with diabetes more susceptible to dehydration. Nondiarrheal conditions like fever, infections, nausea, vomiting, heat-related illnesses, tropical illnesses like dengue, malaria, etc., increase the insensible fluid and electrolyte losses and make patients susceptible to dehydration. However, there is hardly any evidence on the incidence or prevalence of the same. There is no data available on nondiarrheal dehydration and the use of oral electrolytes in persons with diabetes.

Methodology: This retrospective observational study was conducted using anonymized and aggregated data from the HealthPlix electronic medical records (EMR) database.

Results: There was a large difference between the number of patients with dehydration documented in their prescriptions and those prescribed oral electrolytes, suggesting the underreporting of dehydration. ORSL Rehydrate^®, a low-sugar variant of ORSL^®, suitable for diabetic patients, was observed to be the preferred prescription choice for patients with symptoms like chills, vomiting, and others. However, for some of the conditions, other variants were the most prescribed. These variants were mostly prescribed for 1-3 days with twice daily (BID) or thrice daily (TID) regimen. Recovery from fever tends to be faster in the case of patients prescribed ORSL^® variants.

Conclusion: There is a need to emphasize the documentation of dehydration in prescriptions and prescribe the most suited variant of oral electrolytes for diabetic patients. Prescription of oral fluid, electrolyte, and energy (FEE) drinks along with the standard of care treatment supports patients of nondiarrheal conditions for faster recovery.