National trends in US hospital admissions for hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia among Medicare beneficiaries, 1999 to 2011.
OBJECTIVE
The increasing intensity of diabetes mellitus management over the past decade may have resulted in lower rates of hyperglycemic emergencies but higher rates of hospital admissions for hypoglycemia among older adults. Trends in these hospitalizations and subsequent outcomes are not known.


OBJECTIVE
To characterize changes in hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia hospitalization rates and subsequent mortality and readmission rates among older adults in the United States over a 12-year period, and to compare these results according to age, sex, and race.


METHODS
Retrospective observational study using data from 33,952,331 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries 65 years or older from 1999 to 2011.


METHODS
Hospitalization rates for hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia, 30-day and 1-year mortality rates, and 30-day readmission rates.


RESULTS
A total of 279,937 patients experienced 302,095 hospitalizations for hyperglycemia, and 404,467 patients experienced 429,850 hospitalizations for hypoglycemia between 1999 and 2011. During this time, rates of admissions for hyperglycemia declined by 38.6% (from 114 to 70 admissions per 100,000 person-years), while admissions for hypoglycemia increased by 11.7% (from 94 to 105 admissions per 100,000 person-years). In analyses designed to account for changing diabetes mellitus prevalence, admissions for hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia declined by 55.2% and 9.5%, respectively. Trends were similar across age, sex, and racial subgroups, but hypoglycemia rates were 2-fold higher for older patients (≥75 years) when compared with younger patients (65-74 years), and admission rates for both hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia were 4-fold higher for black patients compared with white patients. The 30-day and 1-year mortality and 30-day readmission rates improved during the study period and were similar after an index hospitalization for either hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia (5.4%, 17.1%, and 15.3%, respectively, after hyperglycemia hospitalizations in 2010; 4.4%, 19.9%, and 16.3% after hypoglycemia hospitalizations).


CONCLUSIONS
Hospital admission rates for hypoglycemia now exceed those for hyperglycemia among older adults. Although admissions for hypoglycemia have declined modestly since 2007, rates among black Medicare beneficiaries and those older than 75 years remain high. Hospital admissions for severe hypoglycemia seem to pose a greater health threat than those for hyperglycemia, suggesting new opportunities for improvement in care of persons with diabetes mellitus.
Section of Endocrinology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
Kasia J
KJ
Lipska
Section of General Internal Medicine and Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut3Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Conne.
Joseph S
JS
Ross
Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut4Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
Yun
Y
Wang
Section of Endocrinology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
Silvio E
SE
Inzucchi
Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut.
Karl
K
Minges
Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland.
Andrew J
AJ
Karter
Section of General Internal Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
Elbert S
ES
Huang
Yale School of Public Health and Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
Mayur M
MM
Desai
Section of Geriatrics, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
Thomas M
TM
Gill
Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut10Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale-New Haven Hospital and Section of Health.
Harlan M
HM
Krumholz
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D006943:Hyperglycemia / Q000208:ethnology / Q000401:mortality*; D007003:Hypoglycemia / Q000208:ethnology / Q000401:mortality*; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology