Evaluation of Glycemic Control in Type 2 Diabetic Patients have been Treated in General Hospital

Park, Joung Ho; Kim, Kwan Woo; Kang, Eun Jin; Kim, Tak Young; Lee, Sa Ra; Bae, Su Chan; Kim, Mi Kyung; Choi, Sin Yeong; Park, Jeong Hyun

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Good metabolic control is one of the most important parts of managing diabetes. Several studies in western countries have shown glycemic control in type 2 diabetic patients to be poorer than expected. Similar reports in Korea are very limited. Therefore, this study was performed to estimate the degree in glycemic control of type 2 diabetic patients that have been treated in general hospitals in Korea.
METHODS
This was a cross-sectional retrospective study conducted on 1012 type 2 diabetic patients treated at the Maryknoll Hospital. Subjects with type 1 diabetes or a treatment duration of less than 6 month were excluded. The glycemic control was estimated by HbA1c and the clinical characteristics, including duration of diabetes, age, height and body weight, checked. The treatment methods were divided into four groups, namely diet, oral hypoglycemic agent, insulin alone, and insulin and oral hypoglycemic agent combination. Data were analyzedsed by SPSS version 11.0.
RESULTS
The mean age, BMI, duration of diabetes and HbA1c of the subjects were 61.6+/-9.8 years, 24.6+/-3.2kg/m(2), 12.1+/-6.5 year and 7.6+/-1.3%, respectively, and the percentage of those achieving the goal of glycemic control(HbA1c<7%) was 35.7%. Those who achieved glycemic control were older than those who could not and also had a shorter duration of diabetes(p<0.001). There were no significant differences in the BMI, gender and HbA1c levels before treatment between the four groups. The subjects on diet treatment had a lower mean HbA1c level than those on insulin alone or combined therapy(p<0.05)
CONCLUSION
The percentage of type 2 diabetic patients in good glycemic control in our general hospital was less than 40%, which was similar to previous western data. It is our suggestion that a large nationwide study is required to more accurately evaluate the state of glycemic control and find the reasons why certain patients could not reach this goal.