A follow-up study of the occurrence and consequences of HbA1c measurements in an unselected cohort of non-pharmacologically treated patients with Type 2 diabetes

Figures & data

Table I.  Number (percent) of patients with a new HbA1c measurement and/or a prescription for antidiabetic medicine within 3 or 6 months.

	First HbA1c measurement
	≤8%		>8%
	n	percent	n	percent
New HbA1c measurement
Within 3 months	454	27%	168	53%
Within 6 months	1.115	67%	249	79%
New medication
Within 3 months	139	8%	181	57%
Within 6 months	194	12%	208	66%
New HbA1c measurement or new medication
Within 3 months	523	31%	240	76%
Within 6 months	1.144	68%	285	90%

Figure 1.  Proportion of patients with no new HbA1c measurement during the period after the first measurement of HbA1c. Broken line shows patient where first HbA1c measurement was above 8%. Unbroken line shows patients where first HbA1c measurement was less than or equal to 8%.

Figure 2.  Proportion of patients not changing from non-pharmacological treatment to pharmacological treatment during time after the first measurement of HbA1c. Broken line shows patient where first HbA1c measurement was above 8%. Unbroken line shows patients where first HbA1c measurement was less than or equal to 8%.

Table II.  Probability of either a HbA1c measurement or change from non-pharmacological treatment to pharmacological treatment within 6 months, when the first registered HbA1c measurement in 2003 was either less than 8% or above 8%.

				New HbA1c measurement within 6 months				Medication within 6 months				New HbA1c measurement or medication within 6 months
				HbA1c ≤8%		HbA1c >8%		HbA1c ≤8%		HbA1c >8%		HbA1c ≤8%		HbA1c >8%
			n	Estimate	95% CI	Estimate	95% CI	Estimate	95% CI	Estimate	95% CI	Estimate	95% CI	Estimate	95% CI
Male	Age group	40–49	125	0.65	0.54–0.75	0.70	0.50–0.84	0.20	0.13–0.29	0.67	0.50–0.80	0.70	0.59–0.79	0.82	0.66–0.91
		50–59	311	0.63	0.56–0.69	0.71	0.58–0.81	0.15	0.12–0.20	0.63	0.49–0.75	0.65	0.56–0.71	0.84	0.73–0.91
		60–69	345	0.71	0.65–0.75	0.82	0.71–0.89	0.09	0.06–0.13	0.62	0.50–0.73	0.72	0.67–0.77	0.95	0.87–0.99
		70–79	233	0.66	0.66–0.72	0.87	0.70–0.95	0.08	0.05–0.13	0.68	0.50–0.82	0.68	0.61–0.74	0.94	0.78–0.98
		80 +	64	0.48	0.35–0.61	0.88	0.46–0.98	0.14	0.08–0.26	0.75	0.38–0.94	0.50	0.37–0.63	1.00	1.00–1.00
	Diabetes duration	0	438	0.69	0.63–0.73	0.88	0.77–0.94	0.13	0.10–0.17	0.64	0.52–0.75	0.71	0.66–0.76	0.95	0.85–0.98
		1–5	362	0.62	0.56–0.68	0.73	0.61–0.82	0.10	0.07–0.13	0.59	0.48–0.70	0.64	0.58–0.70	0.84	0.74–0.90
		6–10	207	0.63	0.55–0.69	0.78	0.63–0.87	0.11	0.07–0.17	0.71	0.58–0.82	0.65	0.57–0.71	0.92	0.81–0.97
		11 +	71	0.66	0.53–0.77	0.61	0.38–0.80	0.15	0.08–0.27	0.67	0.43–0.84	0.70	0.57–0.80	0.89	0.65–0.97
		total	1078	0.65	0.62–0.69	0.77	0.71–0.83	0.12	0.10–0.14	0.64	0.58–0.70	0.68	0.64–0.71	0.89	0.85–0.93
Female	Age group	40–49	82	0.64	0.52–0.74	0.90	0.53–0.95	0.12	0.07–0.21	0.50	0.22–0.78	0.64	0.52–0.74	0.90	0.53–0.99
		50–59	192	0.67	0.59–0.74	0.82	0.60–0.93	0.11	0.07–0.16	0.77	0.57–0.90	0.68	0.60–0.75	0.86	0.65–0.96
		60–69	359	0.72	0.66–0.78	0.74	0.56–0.86	0.11	0.08–0.16	0.62	0.43–0.78	0.73	0.66–0.79	0.91	0.76–0.97
		7079	242	0.68	0.61–0.74	0.85	0.70–0.94	0.10	0.06–0.14	0.74	0.55–0.86	0.70	0.63–0.76	0.94	0.80–0.98
		80 +	136	0.64	0.55–0.72	0.81	0.55–0.94	0.14	0.09–0.23	0.69	0.43–0.86	0.67	0.58–0.75	0.94	0.66–0.99
	Diabetes duration	0	359	0.72	0.67–0.77	0.76	0.58–0.88	0.10	0.07–0.14	0.71	0.55–0.82	0.73	0.68–0.78	0.88	0.74–0.95
		1–5	312	0.66	0.60–0.72	0.91	0.79–0.97	0.11	0.08–0.16	0.76	0.62–0.85	0.67	0.61–0.73	0.98	0.86–1.00
		6–10	152	0.64	0.56–0.72	0.69	0.48–0.85	0.11	0.07–0.18	0.65	0.44–0.82	0.67	0.59–0.74	0.85	0.61–0.95
		11 +	88	0.62	0.51–0.72	0.82	0.49–0.95	0.16	0.09–0.25	0.36	0.14–0.66	0.65	0.54–0.75	0.91	0.56–0.99
		total	911	0.68	0.64–0.72	0.81	0.72–0.88	0.11	0.09–0.14	0.68	0.58–0.77	0.69	0.66–0.73	0.91	0.84–0.95