Grado de control metabólico en pacientes ambulatorios con diabetes mellitus tipo 2 en Medicina Interna. Estudio BARVI

Control rates of type 2 diabetes are usually poor both in the terms of diabetes control per se and associated cardiovascular risk factors. The present study evaluated diabetes control in patients attending an Internal Medicine outpatient clinic.

This cross-sectional, multicenter study was performed in hospitals in the BARbanza area (La Coruña) and VIgo (The BARVI study) and analyzed values of HbA_1c, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), body mass index (BMI) and smoking. Control rates were evaluated according to the American Diabetes Association's guidelines.

A total of 270 patients were included, 107 (39.6%) were men and 163 (60.4%) were women. The mean age was 71 years (range: 32-94). Adequate control was achieved in the following percentages: HbA_1c in 60.7%, SBP in 38.5%, DBP in 63.3%, both SBP and DBP in 32.5%, LDL in 39.6%, HDL in 28.8%, BMI in 15.9% and smoking in 82.2%. Complete control, understood as control of BP, LDL and HbA_1c, was achieved in only 16.25% but this percentage fell to 9.8% when overweight-obesity was included. Thus only one in 10 patients was properly controlled.

There is a wide margin to improve control of patients with diabetes and their associated cardiovascular risk. Special efforts should be made to achieve targets in these patients.