Prevalence of comorbidities in patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus is gradually increasing in Turkey and it is becoming a serious public health problem. Other diseases which accompany diabetes becloud its treatment and bring additional problems. Until now, there have been no studies investigating the prevalence of co-morbidities in Turkish diabetic patients. With this study, we aimed to resolve the deficiency on this subject.

This cross-sectional descriptive epidemiological study was conducted between 2018 and 2019. Patients who had been regularly admitted to our diabetes center in the past 3 years were included in this study. Co-morbidities including hypertension, hyperlipidemia, obesity, coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, diabetic retinopathy, and diabetic nephropathy were investigated. Factors relating to these co-morbidities were assessed.

After exclusion from analysis, 1024 patients were included in the study. The female/male ratio was found to be 1.7. The mean age of these patients was 69.3 ± 9.8. The mean diabetes duration was 22.2 ± 7.0. The most common co-morbidities were hypertension and hyperlipidemia by the rate of 84.9% and 65.6%. Obesity prevalence was 54.4%, nephropathy was 36.6%, coronary heart disease 22.8%, retinopathy 18.5% and stroke prevalence was found to be 4.8%. Age, diabetes duration and insulin usage were found to be significantly related to all co-morbidities.

This study is significant in that it is the widest Turkish diabetic co-morbidity analysis study to date. When compared to other worldwide studies, co-morbidities were seen to be a little bit higher in Turkish diabetic patients. Clinicians need to not only focus on anti-diabetic treatment but also on other co-morbidities in terms of decreasing mortality and morbidity.