Prevalence and co-prevalence of comorbidities in Belgian patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a transversal, descriptive study.

OBJECTIVES

Most patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have at least one comorbid chronic disease. These comorbidities increase disease burden and costs and may impact the selection of glucose-lowering therapies. The aim of our study was to describe the prevalence and co-prevalence of comorbidities in patients with T2DM in Belgium.

METHODS

This was a single centre, transversal, descriptive study performed at Saint-Luc University Hospital, Brussels, Belgium. T2DM patients aged >18 years presenting to the outpatient diabetes clinic and regularly followed (≥1 year) between July 2011 and 2016 were included in the database. Information on descriptive characteristics was collected and several comorbidities were assessed.

RESULTS

Overall, 778 patients were included. The median age was 68 years. The most frequently observed comorbidities were hypertension (85.5%), metabolic syndrome (MetS; 84.6%) and non-alcoholic hepatic steatosis (71.7%). 78.5% of the T2DM patients had ≥4 comorbidities. The highest co-prevalence of comorbidities was the combination of MetS and hypertension (75.8%), MetS and overweight (60.5%), and hypertension and overweight (56.6%).

CONCLUSION

The observed prevalence and co-prevalence of comorbidities in T2DM Belgian patients was high, with 95.0% patients having at least two comorbid conditions.