Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus among Nigerian adults has been increasing over time. A considerable number of chronic complications of DM can be adequately prevented, however, the proportion of patients presenting with chronic complications of DM in our setting is still relatively high.

Objectives: This study was carried out to assess the pattern of chronic diabetic complications among patients attending the diabetic clinic of Lagos University Teaching Hospital and to identify the factors associated with these complications.

It is hoped that this data will provide information to physicians and public health workers for focused prevention initiatives for these patients.

Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive survey was carried out among patients attending the diabetic clinic from January to March 2011 using a systematic random sampling method. In total, 419 patients were selected and interviewed using a pre tested interviewer administered questionnaire after written informed consent.

Results: The age of the patients ranged from 25 to 84 years with a mean of 55.2±12.5 years. There were more females (62%) than males (38%). Most of them were married (65%) with a mean duration of DM of 8.4±6.5 years. Up to 16.9% of the patients had at least one complication of DM at the time of the survey. Eye problems were by far the commonest type accounting for 65% of these. This was followed by neurological complications (16.7%). Cardiovascular problems accounted for 11.6% while foot complications and renal problems were 3.3 and 1.7%, respectively. A bi-variate analysis revealed that increasing age, lower educational status, increasing duration of DM, the presence of co-existing hypertension and a higher waist circumference were significantly associated with the presence of chronic complications among these patients. A logistic regression revealed that increasing age and co-existing hypertension were the strongest predictors of chronic complications among these patients.

Conclusion: There is therefore a need to focus on routine preventive eye screening especially among the elderly diabetics attending this clinic. The prevention and appropriate management of hypertension among known diabetics will also play an important role in the prevention of chronic complications among these diabetic patients.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.