Effect of pharmaceutical care on clinical outcomes of outpatients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

BACKGROUND: In the People's Republic of China, outpatients have limited time with their physicians. Thus, compared to inpatients, outpatients have lower medication adherence and are less knowledgeable about their disease. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of pharmaceutical care on clinical outcomes of outpatients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A randomized, controlled, prospective clinical trial was conducted recruiting a total of 240 T2DM outpatients from Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University. The control group (CG) received only common care from medical staff, whereas the inter vention group (IG) received extra pharmaceutical care from clinical pharmacists. Biochemical data such as blood pressure (BP), fasting blood glucose (FBG), glycosylated hemoglobin A1 (HbA1c), and blood lipid were collected before and after 6-month intervention. The primary end points in this study were FBG and HbA1c. RESULTS: After the intervention, most of the baseline clinical outcomes of the patients in IG significantly improved, while only body mass index, diastolic BP, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and total cholesterol (TC) improved significantly in patients in the CG. Compared to CG, in IG, there were significant improvements in FBG, HbA1c, TC, the target attainment rates of HbA1c, and BP. CONCLUSION: Pharmaceutical care provided by clinical pharmacists could improve the control of diabetes of outpatients, and clinical pharmacists could play an important role in diabetes management.