Background: Many studies have estimated the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in suburban regions of India, such as Ahmedabad, Gujarat. However, there are few studies that examine the progression of HbA1C levels in patients diagnosed with diabetes over multiple visits to healthcare facilities.

Objective: The primary aims of this study were to assess the efficacy of patient treatment at a diabetes care center in Gujarat, India and determine factors that may affect the progression of HbA1C levels over multiple visits.

Methods: A total of 2,037 individuals aged ≥25 years (mean age 53.7 years) were included in this retrospective study. All individuals were previously diagnosed with diabetes and received treatment at the Dia Care Advanced Diabetes Care Center in Ahmedabad. Patient data was acquired from the clinic’s HealthPlix EMR.

Results: Of those meeting inclusion criteria, males constituted 69.1%. The average BMI of all subjects was 29.7 kg/m2. Of all 2,037 subjects, only 22.0% (n=442) patients were tested for HbA1C levels multiple times. On average, these subjects underwent blood tests for HbA1C values 3.3 times in a one-year period and HbA1C levels dropped by 0.51 mg/dl (95% CI 0.70-0.31). There was a substantial correlation between the number of clinic visits and the decrease in HbA1C values (R = 0.71). Over the course of one year, 22.6% (19.9-25.1) of subjects who returned to the clinic saw a drop in HbA1C to levels not indicative of diabetes (≤6.5 mg/dl). A significant correlation was observed between RBS measurements and HbA1C levels. Notably, there was also a slight negative correlation between BMI and the number of clinic visits (R = 0.74).

Conclusion: Results from this study reinforce the conventional wisdom that frequent visits to one’s physician help achieve glycemic control. More importantly, these results also reflect the success of suburban clinics such as Dia Care and call for physicians to stress the importance of clinic visits and address improvement in metabolic status regularly.

Disclosure

S. Shah: None. B.D. Saboo: None. S. Shah: None. D. Hasnani: None. V. Chavda: None. J. Kesavadev: Speaker’s Bureau; Self; Biocon, Novo Nordisk Inc., Sanofi-Aventis. H.B. Shah: None. K.J. Patel: None.

© 2020 by the American Diabetes Association
2020
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