Study of Prescription Pattern and Factors Associated with Clinical Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus with Reference to Short Term Glycemic Control.

Background Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Though oral hypoglycemic agents (OHAs) or/and insulin are prescribed to control the hyperglycemia, still glycemic control is not seen in most of the cases. Evaluating the treatment pattern including the glycemic control and associated factors are of utmost importance for better patient care. Objective To investigate the treatment pattern and short term glycemic control among Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM2) patients and study the factors associated with it. Method Patients meeting the inclusion criteria with DM2 attending laboratory or Out-Patient Department or Emergency Department in Dhulikhel Hospital and patients who were admitted to the ward taking various OHAs and/or insulin at the time of data collection were considered. Informed consent was taken prior to the interview. The collected data was entered as well as analyzed using the SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 21.0 and the p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Result Among the 118 patients, 50.8% of them were males. Majority (28%) of the patients belonged to the age group of 51-60 years. Out of the 118 patients, 22% had their fasting blood glucose (FBG) level under control whereas 78% had uncontrolled FBG level. Metformin was the most (28%) commonly prescribed drug. Significant association was found between gender; knowledge about disease and medication with short term glycemic control (p=0.034, p=0.004 ans p=0.039 respectively). Conclusion All the patients enrolled in this study were under various anti-diabetic medications, however, majority of them didn't have their glycemia under control. Significant association was found between FBG level and gender, knowledge about disease and knowledge about medication.