Objective: Individualized treatment of patients with diabetes requires detailed evaluation of risk factor dynamics at the population level. This study evaluated the persistent glycemic and cardiovascular (CV) risk factor burden over 2 years after treatment intensification (TI).
Research design and methods: From U.S. Centricity Electronic Medical Records, 276,884 patients with incident type 2 diabetes who intensified metformin were selected. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥130/140 mmHg and LDL ≥70/100 mg/dL were defined as uncontrolled for those with/without a history of CV disease at TI. Triglycerides ≥150 mg/dL and HbA1c ≥7.5% (58 mmol/mol) were defined as uncontrolled. Longitudinal measures over 2 years after TI were used to define risk factor burden.
Results: With 3.7 years' mean follow-up, patients were 59 years; 70% were obese; 22% had a history of CV disease; 60, 30, 50, and 48% had uncontrolled HbA1c, SBP, LDL, and triglycerides, respectively, at TI; and 81% and 69% were receiving antihypertensive and lipid-modifying therapies, respectively. The proportion of patients with consistently uncontrolled HbA1c increased from 31% in 2005 to 41% in 2014. Among those on lipid-modifying drugs, 41% and 37% had consistently high LDL and triglycerides over 2 years, respectively. Being on antihypertensive therapies, 29% had consistently uncontrolled SBP. Among patients receiving cardioprotective therapies, 63% failed to achieve control in HbA1c + LDL, 57% in HbA1c + SBP, 55% in LDL + SBP, and 63% in HbA1c + triglycerides over 2 years after TI.
Conclusions: Among patients on multiple therapies for risk factor control, more than one-third had uncontrolled HbA1c, lipid, and SBP levels, and more than one-half had two CV risk factors that were simultaneously uncontrolled after TI.
© 2019 by the American Diabetes Association.