Assessing Current Glycemic Control in Newly Diagnosed Diabetes Patients in China

NEW2D study was a prospective and longitudinal cohort study to investigate initial treatment pattern and treatment evolution during the course of the disease and clinical outcomes in newly diagnosed T2DM patients in China. Patients >20 years old and had T2DM diagnosis <6 months were recruited and followed up to 36 months. Physical examinations and lab tests information were obtained from patients’ medical record. We report the one-year result of this study.

A total of 5985 patients from 81 hospitals nationwide wererecruited in 2013. The patient proportion of reaching glycemic control measured by Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) <6.5% was 25.4% at baseline and 47.0% at 12 month.At the baseline, 39.5% patients received oral hypoglycemic agents (OHA) alone,17.9% received insulin alone or with OHA(s), and 42.6% received none. At 12 month, the patients received OHA(s) alone, insulin alone or with OHA(s), and none were 58.1%, 19.2% and 22.7%, respectively. Multivariate analyses showed that the proportions of reaching HbA1c target were significantly increased over-time (p<0.001). Meanwhile, patients were less likely to achieve HbA1c <6.5% if: Age ≥65y (p<0.05), body mass index ≥28 kg/m2 (p<0.001), current smoker (p<0.001) and no exercises (p<0.05). Patients receiving insulin alone (p<0.0001), or insulin with one OHA (p<0.0001) had lower possibility of reaching HbA1c target compared to no treatment.

Nearly half of newly diagnosed patients did not reach stringent HbA1c controltarget in this population after one-year treatment. The study demonstrates the gap between the guideline recommendations and the actual management. Lifestyle changes and medication optimizations need to be set as priority in newly diagnosed T2DM patients.