A Nationwide Survey about the Current Status of Glycemic Control and Complications in Diabetic Patients in 2006: The Committee of the Korean Diabetes Association on the Epidemiology of Diabetes Mellitus / 당뇨병

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The Committee of the Korean Diabetes Association on the Epidemiology of Diabetes Mellitus performed a nationwide survey about the current status of glycemic control and diabetic complications in 2006. METHODS: The current study included 5,652 diabetic patients recruited from the rosters of endocrinology clinics of 13 tertiary hospitals in Korea. Age, gender, height, weight, waist circumference and blood pressure were investigated by standard method. Fasting and postprandial 2 hour glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), lipid profiles, fasting insulin and c-peptide levels were measured. Microvascular (microalbuminuria, retinopathy and neuropathy) and macrovascular (coronary artery disease [CAD], cerebrovascular disease [CVD] and peripheral artery disease [PAD]) complications were reviewed in their medical records. RESULTS: Mean age of total subjects was 58.7 (+/- 11.6) years and duration of diabetes was 8.8 (0~50) years. Mean fasting and postprandial 2 hour glucose levels were 145.9 +/- 55.0 and 208.0 +/- 84.4 mg/dL, respectively. Their mean HbA1c was 7.9 +/- 1.9% the percentage of patients within target goal of glycemic control (< 7% of HbA1c) was 36.7%. In this study, 30.3%, 38.3% and 44.6% of patients was found to have microalbuminuria, retinopathy and nephropathy, respectively. Prevalence of CAD, CVD and PAD was 8.7%, 6.7% and 3.0%, respectively. Diabetic complications were closely related with age, duration of diabetes and glycemic control, and this relationship was stronger in microvascular complications than macrovascular ones. CONCLUSION: Only about one third of patients with diabetes was found to reach target glycemic control in tertiary hospitals of Korea. More tight control is needed to reduce deleterious complications of diabetes in Korea.