Oral Water Hydration May Impact Hematocrit and Blood Sugar Levels in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus

Introduction: Patients of diabetes repeatedly need blood glucose measurement, which may be falsely high due to less water intake and poor hydration of the patients. Aims & Objectives: To determine the effect of water intake or hydration on hematocrit and blood sugar levels in patients with diabetes mellitus. Place and Duration of Study: Pathology Department and Diabetic Center of Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Rahim Yar Khan from January 2023 to July 2023. Material & Methods: It was a cross sectional study conducted in total 75 Type-1 & Type-2 diabetes patients using convenient sampling technique. 5 ml blood samples were drawn before and 20 minutes after oral hydration with 500 ml of oral water in all these patients to determine the effect on hematocrit and blood sugar levels. The data was entered and analyzed on SPSS version 23. Pre and post observations were compared using paired t-test. p-value<0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Results: The mean value for age and BSR (before and after) of study subjects was 46±11 years, 200±97 mg/dl, and 199±94 mg/dl (p=0.8) respectively. While mean value of HCT before hydration was 39±5.8% and after hydration was 38±6.4% (p=0.006). Conclusion: Oral water hydration impacted mean hematocrit values in diabetic patients, significantly lowering them whereas their mean BSR values remained unaffected.