OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the frequency and pattern of use of the accident and emergency (A&E) department by individuals with diabetes is different from that of the general population. METHODS: A historical cohort of 696 individuals with diabetes from six randomly selected general practices and a non-diabetic comparison cohort matched on age, sex, and general practice were identified. The use of an urban A&E department by the two cohorts was compared for number of visits between 1984 and 1996 for injuries, diabetes related and non-diabetes related illness, proportion referred by a general practitioner, proportion arriving by ambulance, and proportion admitted. RESULTS: More visits were made by the diabetic cohort (1002 v 706, P = 0.0001); 121 visits were directly related to diabetes, including 52 for hypoglycaemia. The diabetic cohort also had more visits for medical illness unrelated to diabetes (357 v 231, P = 0.0001). The number of visits for injuries was similar (524 v 475, P = 0.3). Individuals with diabetes who attended A&E were not significantly more likely to be referred by a general practitioner (14% v 16%) or admitted (20% v 17%). CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with diabetes made more frequent visits than the general population to the A&E department. Since there was no excess of visits for injuries and the proportion requiring admission was similar, the hypothesis that they have a different threshold for attending is not supported.
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机译：目的：确定糖尿病患者使用急诊科的频率和方式是否与普通人群不同。方法：从六种随机选择的常规方法中筛选出696例糖尿病患者的历史队列，并在年龄，性别和常规方法上匹配非糖尿病对照人群。比较了这两个队列中城市急诊科的使用情况，以比较1984年至1996年之间因受伤，糖尿病相关和与非糖尿病相关的疾病的就诊次数，全科医生转诊的比例，急救车到达的比例以及允许的比例。结果：糖尿病队列的随访次数更多（1002 vs 706，P = 0.0001）； 121次就诊与糖尿病直接相关，其中52次涉及低血糖。糖尿病队列中有更多与糖尿病无关的内科疾病就诊（357 v 231，P = 0.0001）。受伤探视次数相似（524 v 475，P = 0.3）。参加A＆E的糖尿病患者被全科医生转诊（14％对16％）或入院（20％对17％）的可能性不大。结论：与普通人群相比，糖尿病患者的急诊就诊频率更高。由于受伤探访人数没有过多，并且需要入院的比例相似，因此不支持他们有不同出诊门槛的假设。
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