Prescription Practice for Diabetes Management among a Female Population in Primary Health Care

Abstract

Introduction. Prescription for diabetes care is an important practice in primary care. Methods. This is a descriptive study carried out on at primary care clinics over a five-month period at Al Imam Medical Complex, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was cross-sectional study of 160 female diabetic patients, who visited the services between January and May, 2012. Data were collected from the medical records on the clinical characteristics and drugs prescribed for their diabetic management. Results. The majority of the sample population (82%) was older than 40 years old. Half of them had concomitant hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and obesity. There were 500 prescriptions for diabetes management. More than 57% of participants were on two or more drugs for hyperglycemia. Metformin was the most common drug prescribed. Metformin and sulphonylurea were the most common combined medications. Most of cases ( 70%) were on a combination of antihypertensive drugs. ACE or ARBs and diuretic was the most common combined prescriptions. Statins and aspirin were used by 41% and 23.8% of the research population, respectively. Conclusion. Polypharmacy is a feature in diabetes care. Most of the prescription practice for diabetic care follows the recommended guidelines for hyperglycemia and hypertension. Management of dyslipidemia among diabetic patients, however, is an area that needs to be developed.

Cross-population analysis for functional characterization of type II diabetes variants

“…The Saudi population is also characterized, as well as many Arab countries, by Adipocyte dysfunction which associates obesity to insulin resistance and diabetes [53]. Research shows that Metformin is the first line treatment for T2D in USA, UK, Finland and Saudi Arabia [54–57]. In fact Metformin has been on the list of the top ten prescription drugs in the USA for years, ranking four in 2018 and 2019 [58] and on the list of top 100 most prescribed drugs in the UK [59] and ranks fifth on the list of most prescribed drugs in Saudi Arabia from 2010 to 2015 [60].…”

Pharmacists’ care of diabetes patients during Ramadan

“…Future knowledge assessments would also benefit from inclusion of dosing consideration for the expanding treatment alternatives in diabetes (thiazolidinediones, dipeptyl-4-inhibitors, sodium-glucose transporter 2 inhibitors) and the management of medication for the concomitant diseases these patients most often have [4].…”