Current situation analysis of diabetic home care patients

OBJECTIVE: Diabetes is one of the primary diagnoses for admission to home health care units. Although there are many studies about elderly diabetic patients, there are not many studies on home care patients with diabetes. The present study aims to analyze the current status of diabetic home care patients with their biochemical data and medications. METHODS: This was a retrospective study, including 256 diabetic patients who were following up by the Home Health Unit of Istanbul Provincial Health Directorate Public Hospitals Services-2. In this study, we analyzed the current biochemical data of the patients with their medications. RESULTS: In this study, 185 female (72.3%) and 71 male (27.7%) patients were recruited with the mean HbA1c of 8.25 +/- 1.77. Among these patients, 65% of them were using oral antidiabetic (OAD), and 58% were using insulin. There were 21 (8.2%) patients who were not receiving any treatment. While patients who were using only oral antidiabetic have better A1c levels (A1c: 7.73 +/- 1.45), patients who were insulin using had HbA1c levels as high as the patients who were not using any medication. This may be due to the progression of diabetes, fear of hypoglycemia or insufficient insulin use. While metformin was the most commonly used OAD, with a 38% usage rate. When compared to HbA1c levels, there was no difference between the types of insulin used (p=0.167). CONCLUSION: As a result, it is important to plan regular visits and personalized treatment by keeping in mind the benefits to risk ratios in home-care diabetic patients.