Prevalence and determinants of inadequately controlled diabetes in Qatar’s public primary care settings: A cross-sectional study

Background The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is rapidly increasing worldwide, causing serious morbidity and mortality. Proper management and control of T2DM are essential in slowing and reducing complications. Measuring the adequacy of diabetic control, therefore is one of the ways of evaluating the success of health care system and the individuals in addressing disease morbidity and mortality. This study was proposed to assess the extent of uncontrolled T2DM in ambulatory adults managed in the public primary care settings of Qatar over five years. In addition, it aimed to predict the risk of uncontrolled disease based on age, sex, nationality and comorbidity. Methods A cross sectional review of Electronic Health Records of 84,512 adult individuals with T2DM having at least one HbA1c blood test result per year during the 5 years study period (1st January 2018, to 31st December 2022) was analyzed. The term “inadequately controlled” T2DM was used to define an individual with HbA1c measurements of 7% or higher. Results The yearly prevalence of inadequately controlled T2DM remained stable at a high rate (53%) during the last three years of observations. Aging increases the probability of having inadequately controlled T2DM, but this was attributed to comorbidities. Adjusting for those comorbidities will show that younger ages are the ones at higher risk of being uncontrolled. Additionally, the study reported that hypertension and dyslipidemia are the most frequently prevalent comorbidities, nevertheless retinopathy, although less frequent, was the most important predictor for inadequately controlled T2DM. Conclusions The study highlights the significant healthcare challenge posed by T2DM in Qatar due to its high prevalence and associated complications. Males, South Asian ethnic background and Qatari locals have the highest probability of being inadequately controlled. Overall, the study emphasizes the need for targeted interventions to address the challenges of controlling diabetes, particularly among high-risk groups identified in the study