Evaluation of prevalence of micro- and macrovascular complications among elderly Type 2 diabetes patients in a health facility

Abstract

Diabetes complications contribute to reduction in health-related quality of life of patients and increased health resources usage. This study was  undertaken to evaluate the prevalence of micro and macro complications among type 2 diabetic patients in Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, Nigeria. This was a retrospective study of case files of elderly type 2 diabetic patients from 50 years old who  attended the endocrinology clinic from 2011-2012 and fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Relevant data on micro and macro vascular  complications were assessed from the files. Mean age of study population was 63.9±9.6 years. Majority were females (61.7%). Above half of the patients (59.3%) had fasting blood sugar (FBS) level <126-126 mg/dl, normal body mass index 18.5-24.9 kg/m2 was 40.7% and blood pressure (BP) < 120/80-130/80 mmHg was 18.6%. Males had 67.2% in both neuropathy and retinopathy while the females had 54.4% and 52.4% respectively. The males had 25.0% and 14.1% in peripheral vascular disease and presence of foot ulcer respectively but the females had a higher figure (7.8%) than males only in history of loss of consciousness. There was no significant association of gender with microvascular  complications but a strong association of age and retinopathy was found (p=0.010). Prevalence of both microvascular and macrovascular  complications was higher in males in this study. The patients were of low educational level and on meager wages. This probably made it difficult for them to seek health intervention early and to take the necessary intervention steps to avoid these complications.

Keywords; Diabetes, elderly, patients, complications, evaluation,  hospital.