Evaluation of metabolic control and its related factors in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background and Objective: The role of desirable control of diabetes in preventing disease outcomes is well-known. Considering the importance of identificating the effective factors on control of diabetes, the present study was conducted to determine the importance of metabolic control and related factors in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus attending in Shahroud city diabetes center, Iran. Materials and Method: This analytical-descriptive study was conducted on 156 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus refered to Shahroud city diabetes center in 2013. Metabolic control was determined based on hemoglobin A1C and divided into three levels of poor, intermediate and appropriate controlled. Then, its relationship with individual characteristics and disease-related factors was evaluated. Data analysis was done via SPSS16 software using Pearson correlation coefficient, independent samples t and One-Way ANOVA tests. Results: Mean of hemoglobin A1C was 8.14 ± 1.62 and most of the patients had a moderate level of metabolic control (7-10%). There was a significant relationship between level of metabolic control and marital status (P < 0.001), lifestyle (P < 0.001), level of education (P < 0.001), jobs (P < 0.001), income (P < 0.001), smoking (P < 0.001), exercise (P < 0.001), the time of diagnosis (P = 0.010), associated complications (P < 0.001) and the type of drugs (P = 0.010). But there was no significant relationship between the level of metabolic control and sex (P = 0.110). Conclusion: Considering that most of the patients did not have optimum control and according to the relationships of factors such as marital status, lifestyle, smoking and exercise with metabolic control in these patients, it seems that the implementation of educational programs for patients and influence of families to support them, make achieving appropriate levels of metabolic control easier which results reduction of complications and problems of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus