Time to optimal glycaemic control and prognostic factors among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in public teaching hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

AIM: To estimate time to first optimal glycaemic control and identify prognostic factors among type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients attending diabetes clinic of public teaching hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. METHODS: A retrospective chart review study was conducted at diabetes clinic of Addis Ababa’s public teaching hospitals among a randomly selected sample of 685 charts of patients with T2DMwho were on follow up from January 1, 2013 to June 30, 2017. Data was collected using data abstraction tool. Descriptive statistics, Kaplan Meier plots, median survival time, Log-rank test and Cox proportional hazard survival models were used for analysis. RESULTS: Median time to first optimal glycaemic control among the study population was 9.5 months. Factors that affect time to first optimal glycaemic control were age group (HR = 0.635, 95% CI: 0.486–0.831 for 50–59 years, HR = 0.558, 95% CI: 0.403–0.771for 60–69 years and HR = 0.495, 95% CI: 0.310–0.790 for > = 70 years), diabetes neuropathy (HR = 0.502, 95% CI: 0.375–0.672), more than one complication (HR = 0.381, 95% CI: 0.177–0.816), hypertension (HR = 0.611, 95% CI: 0.486–0.769), dyslipidemia (HR = 0.609, 95% CI: 0.450–0.824), cardiovascular disease (HR = 0.670, 95% CI: 0.458–0.979) and hospital patient being treated (HR = 1.273, 95% CI: 1.052–1.541). CONCLUSIONS: Median time to first optimal glycaemic control among T2DM patients is longer than expected which might imply that patients are being exposed to more risk of complication and death.