Impact of a multifactorial treatment programme on clinical outcomes and cardiovascular risk estimates: a retrospective cohort study from a specialised diabetes centre in Denmark

Abstract

ObjectivesTo investigate the impact of a multifactorial treatment programme in a real-life setting on clinical outcomes and estimated cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.DesignA retrospective observational cohort study, using data from the electronic medical records and national registers.SettingTertiary diabetes centre in Denmark.ParticipantsPatients with type 2 diabetes (n=4299) referred to a programme with focus on treatment of hyperglycaemia, hypertension and dyslipidaemia between 1 January 2001 and 1 April 2016.OutcomesPrimary outcomes were changes in haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), blood pressure (BP) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol as well as proportion reaching treatment targets. Our secondary outcome was to investigate changes in antidiabetic, antihypertensive and lipid-lowering treatment, together with the impact on estimated CVD risk. Linear mixed model for repeated measurements were used for continuous variables and logistic regression for dichotomous variables.ResultsThe patients achieved a mean±SD decrease in HbA1c, systolic and diastolic BP and LDL cholesterol of 1.0%±0.04% (10.6±0.4 mmol/mol), 6.3±0.4 mm Hg, 2.7±0.2 mm Hg and 0.32±0.02 mmol/L, respectively (p<0.0001). The proportion of patients who met the treatment goal for HbA1c(<7% (<53 mmol/mol)) increased from 31% to 58% (p<0.0001); for BP (<130/80 mm Hg) from 24% to 34% (p<0.0001), and for LDL cholesterol (<2.5 mmol/L (patients without previous CVD) or <1.8 mmol/L (patients with previous CVD)) from 52% to 65%. Those reaching all three guideline treatment targets increased from 4% to 15% (p<0.0001), and when relaxing the BP target to <140/85 from 8% to 24%. The estimated CVD risk was relatively reduced by 15.2% using the Swedish National Diabetes Register risk engine and 30.9% using the UK Prospective Diabetes Study risk engine.ConclusionsOur data support that short-term multifactorial treatment of patients with glycaemic dysregulation in a specialist outpatient setting is both achievable and effective, and associated with a clinically meaningful improvement in CVD risk.