Anti-Diabetic Drug Utilization and Assessment of Glycemic Control Using Glycated Hemoglobin in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus Attending a Tertiary Hospital in South-West Nigeria

Diabetes Mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both. This study focuses on antidiabetic drug utilization and assessment of glycemic control using glycated hemoglobin in patients with diabetes. This was a prospective cross-sectional study carried out from August to November 2015 in the University College Hospital, Ibadan. Data were collected from patients’ case notes for drug utilization study and an assessment of glycemic level using glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) was executed, patients were interviewed for socio-demographic data and adherence. Data were analyzed and interpreted using SPSS 13 version. A total of 201 case notes were reviewed. Female patients made 67.16% and male 32.84%. Average age range was 60 – 69 years. Average number of drugs per encounter was 2.7 and 87.3% of the drugs were prescribed by their generic names. Percentage encounter containing antibiotics and injections were 3.7% and 13.4% respectively, 92.5% of drugs prescribed were from the essential drug list, others include: antidiabetics 175 (32.6%), Antihypertensive 175 (32.7%), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs 45 (8.4%), statins 40 (7.5%), vitamins 13 (2.4%), antibiotics 20 (3.7%), central nervous system drugs 9 (1.7%), others 59 (11.0%). The most prescribed antidiabetic drug was the biguanides (B) occurring in 23.38%. B plus sulfonylureas (SU) were the most prescribed combinations occurring in 30.35% of prescription. SU showed most effective glycemic control of 60% compared to B, 53.3% or its combination, not statistically significant (P>0.05). This reveals a rational drug use pattern and good compliance to drug therapy