A Study of Evaluation for the Management of Diabetes in Bangladesh

Diabetes Mellitus is a leading cause of death in present world. This study was carried out to evaluate the management, control, complication profile and treatment strategies in patients with diabetes and to determine what extent management of diabetes in a tertiary-care diabetic hospital in Bangladesh adhered to current guidelines. Total 140 diabetic pa- tients (type-1 = 3, type-2 = 137) were randomly selected from outpatient department of a tertiary care diabetic hospital in the Rajshahi city, Bangladesh, during the month of August to September. A standard questionnaire was constructed in local language and interview was administrated. The result was expressed as mean ± SD and the age was 53.2 ± 10.5 yr, duration of diabetes was 6.3 ± 5.6 yr and age at the onset of diabetes was 46.9 ± 9.9 yr. The study group comprised of about 43% male and 57% female with varying risk factors including family history (49%), smoking (11%) and both smoking and family history (4%). Results showed deteriorating glycemic control with mean FBG (fasting blood glucose) and PPG (postprandial blood glucose) level was 8.9 ± 3.6 mmol/L and 11.2 ± 4.7 mmol/L respectively. About 25% patients had FBG level < 6.1 mmol/L, 24% had FBG 6.1 - 7.8 mmol/L and rest 51% had FBG > 7.8 mmol/L. Of the 51% patients with hypertension, 94% were taking anti-hypertensive medicine and 21% patients with dyslipidemia, 59% were treated with lipid lowering agents. Micro-vascular and Macro-vascular complications were reported in 49% and 11% patients respectively. The rates of diabetic complications were cataract 19%, diabetic retinopathy 14%, neuropathy symptoms 35%, nephropathy 6%, MI 6%, cerebral stroke 4% and history of angina pectoris was 7%. Proportion of patients on diet control alone, oral hypoglycemic agent (OHA), insulin and combination of insulin & OHA was 10, 44, 25 and 21 percent respectively. Quality of life evaluation showed that about half of patients have poor quality of life as well as poor adherence to diet, exercise and self testing of blood glucose. In conclusion, majority of the patients were still not satisfactorily controlled. There is an urgent need for effective remedial measures to increase adherence to practice guidelines and to educate both patients and healthcare personnel on importance of achieving clinical targets for metabolic control.