According to a new population-based cohort study, over three-quarters of patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) in England have at least one other physical or mental health condition. The findings were published in the journal BMJ Open.
Researchers compared 108,588 T2D patients with 528,667 individuals without T2D, registered in English general practices. They analysed the annual patterns of several physical and mental health conditions among individuals with and without T2D.
The findings showed that 77% of individuals with T2D had one or more physical or mental health comorbidity. Individuals with T2D had a 2.4-fold, 1.8-fold, 1.6-fold and 1.6-fold higher likelihood of having schizophrenia, depression, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), respectively, compared with individuals without T2D. Individuals with T2D had twice the prevalence of cardiovascular disease than their non-T2D counterparts. Additionally, osteoarthritis, hypothyroidism and anxiety were also more prevalent in individuals with T2D.
The lead author, Dr Salwa Zghebi, said: "We highlight the need for future clinical guidelines in diabetes to refocus patient-centred care on non-cardiometabolic conditions such as asthma, COPD, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and osteoarthritis."
"Mental health is of particular concern and our data highlight a profound clinical need in young people with type 2 diabetes who might benefit enormously from mental health interventions," she added.
Zghebi SS, Steinke DT, Rutter MK, Ashcroft DM. Eleven-year multimorbidity burden among 637 255 people with and without type 2 diabetes: a population-based study using primary care and linked hospitalisation data. BMJ Open. 2020;10(7):e033866. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-033866. PMID: 32611677. Full text.
This article originally appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.
