Clinical Pharmacology & Biopharmaceutics
Open Access

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate glycemic control of diabetic patients at King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A cross sectional study was conducted among diabetic patients attending king Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh. Patients were identified through the hospital pharmacy records, over a one year period (January to December 2007). A total of 20,000 patients were identified, and 1520 patients were selected by simple random method. Medical charts were reviewed and the data were collected in a specially designed data sheet: and entered in a computer, analyzed using SPSS program. The analysis of data showed that about 90% of patients were more than 40 years old and 90% were overweight or obese. Fasting blood sugar was above 7.2 mmol/L in 60% of patients and random blood sugar more than 10 mmol/L in about 70%. The overall glycemic control as evaluated by HBA1C was acceptable in about 40% of the patients. Cholesterol level was normal in more than 70% of patients while triglyceride was normal in 56% of patients. In about half of the patients systolic blood pressure was not controlled, while in 27% the diastolic blood pressure was above the target level. Our study conclude that the control of diabetes and its associated cardiovascular risk factors in this hospital ? based survey, in Riyadh is far from optimal. Further studies are needed to find out the possible causes for this defective care of diabetic patients.

Biography

Norah Al-Rowais is an Associate Professor and Consultant of Family Medicine, at the College of Medicine and King Khalid University Hospital, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. She is the Director of the Post Graduate Studies in Family Medicine. She has many publications related to Family Medicine. Her main interest is in Doctor-patient communication, patient compliance and complementary medicine.