Abstract:
Background: Diabetes is one of the largest health emergencies of the twenty-first century globally. The development of long-term complications is influenced by hyperglycemia and poor glycemic control of diabetes mellitus could accelerate their progression. For provision of standard care for the patients, objective information regarding the magnitude of poor glycemic control is needed
Objective: To assess glycemic control and its associated factors among glucometer user and non-user diabetes mellitus patients at Ayder comprehensive specialized hospital, Mekelle, Northern Ethiopia.
Methods: Institution based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted from March 1 to April 30, 2017. The participants were enrolled in the study by using quota sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was used to collect socio demographic data and other relevant clinical characteristics. Glycated Haemoglobin A1c, Serum fasting blood sugar and lipid profile were determined using HumaMeter A1c (HUMAN, Germany) and ABX PENTRA 400 clinical chemistry analyzer (HORIB ABX Diagnostics, France). Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20. Independent t-test, binary and multiple logistic regression analysis were used. P-value <0.05 and corresponding 95% confidence interval were considered for statistically significance.
Result: A total of 336 Diabetes mellitus participants participated in this study, of these, 168 (50%) were glucometer users and the rest were non-users. Overall 208(61.9%) of the study participants had poor glycemic control. The poor glycemic control was significantly higher in non-glucometer user 120(71.4%) compared to glucometer user 88(52.4%) (P-value <0.001). The mean HbA1C was significantly higher among non-users than glucometer users (8.4 ±2.24 vs. 7.68 ±1.95) (p-value<0.001). It was found that age, income, the number of visits, the level of high triglyceride, the level of high low-density lipoprotein and non-glucometer use were significantly associated with the poor glycemic control.
Conclusion: Glucometer use is associated with lower HbA1c and decreased odds of having poor glycaemic control compared to non-glucometer user. Therefore, SMBG recommended to facilitating better glycemic control.
