Objective: To assess the frequency of chronic complications of type II diabetes in subjects attending a tertiary care unit in Karachi, Pakistan.
Design: A cross-sectional analytical study.
Place and duration of study: First visit of all type II diabetic subjects attending the outpatient department of Baqai Institute of Diabetology and Endocrinology from September 1996 to December 2001.
Subjects and methods: Computerized clinical records of 2199 type II diabetic subjects were analyzed for this study. The clinical and laboratory variables were statistically evaluated with significance at p.
Results: Means of glycosylated hemoglobin HbA1c, fasting and random plasma glucose levels, systolic blood pressure, triglycerides and high density lipoproteins (HDL) were higher than the risk indicator value for both genders (p <0.005). Mean body mass index and total blood cholesterol was higher for females only. Hyperglycemia was present in 88%, high HbA1c in 81%, low HDL in 81%, obesity in 66% and hypertriglyceridemia in 54%, neuropathy in 36%, proteinuria in 28% and hypertension in 50% of the subjects. Frequency of obesity, low HDL and hypertension was higher among females (p < 0.001 in each case). Retinopathy (p<0.05), nephropathy (p<0.005), neuropathy (p<0.005) and foot ulcers (p<0.001) were higher among males. Frequency of obesity was significantly higher among those with shorter duration and in younger group while frequency of other complications was higher among those with longer duration and in the older groups.
Conclusion: Higher rates of complications were observed compared to previous studies. Certain variables showed significant association with gender and age as described above.