Distribution and Characteristics of Diseases in Endocrine Emergency Consultation

  Objective  To describe the disease distribution in endocrine emergency consultation.

  Methods  The pattern and characteristics of emergency cases encountered by endocrinology chief resident of Peking Union Medical College Hospital from March 1, 2010 to February 28, 2011 were retrospectively analyzed.

  Results  A total of 196 patients received consultation in the Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit. The most common diagnosis was electrolyte disturbance (69 cases, 35.2%), followed by thyroid disease (56 cases, 28.6%) and carbohydrate metabolic disorder(49 cases, 25.0%). Hyponatremia was the most common electrolyte disturbance (65.2%). The number of emergency consultation cases in winter and spring (110 cases) exceeded that in autumn and summer (86 cases), so did the proportion of electrolyte disturbance cases (39.1% vs. 30.2%). The euthyroid sick syndrome was common in the Intensive Care Unit in the analyzed consultation cases (28.6%).

  Conclusion  Disease pattern in endocrine emergency consultation cases has changed. Electrolyte disturbance becomes a common and important disease in endocrine emergency consultation and we should therefore pay serious attention to this condition in clinical practice.