Diabetes mellitus, caused by a deficiency of the pancreatic hormone insulin, affects millions of individuals every year. In the United States, 29.1 million people had a diagnosis of diabetes in 2012 (9.3% of the US population). Worldwide, the World Health Organization reported 415 million adults with diabetes.1  As the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, diabetes claimed 69 071 lives in 2012.2  Many complications and comorbid conditions are associated with diabetes including myocardial infarction (1.8 times higher risk), stroke (1.5 times higher risk), and cardiovascular deaths (1.7 times higher risk). In adults, diabetes is the most common cause of nontraumatic lower-limb amputations, kidney failure that results in the need for chronic dialysis or kidney transplant, and vision loss/impairment.3 

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is the most serious acute metabolic complication of diabetes. Hospitalizations for DKA in the United States are on the rise. According to epidemiological...

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