Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Professor Paula Whitty, Professor Martin Eccles, Dr Nick Steen, Emerita Professor Elaine McCollORCiD
Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.
Introduction: The number of non-diabetic drugs, taken by a patient with diabetes at any one point in time, has been validated in previous studies as a comorbidity indicator. Aim: The aim of the paper is to examine the relationship between this comorbidity indicator and health status in people with Type 2 diabetes. Method: The analysis presented is from a prospective cohort study of people with Type 2 diabetes before and after commencing insulin therapy, with simultaneous collection of health status, clinical and other comparative data. Results: Of the 48 people for whom both health status and drug data were available, 26 (54%) were taking at least one non-diabetic drug and 16 (33%) were taking 3 or more non-diabetic drugs, at the baseline assessment. There were no significant relationships between number of non-diabetic drugs taken, and age, duration of diabetes or baseline HbA1c measurements. However, there were statistically significant relationships between the number of non-diabetic drugs and health status, in terms of depression and physical function. Conclusion: Drug data are routinely recorded in primary care and therefore the number of non-diabetic drugs is a potentially widely available indicator. This indicator could be a useful, simple addition to datasets that not only proxies comorbidity but also relates to patients' physical function and depression status.
Author(s): Whitty PM, Eccles MP, Steen IN, Mccoll E, Hutchinson A, Meadows K, Hewison J
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Pharmacy World and Science
Year: 2001
Volume: 23
Issue: 4
Pages: 145-147
Print publication date: 01/01/2001
ISSN (print): 0928-1231
ISSN (electronic): 2210-7711
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1011895532488
DOI: 10.1023/A:1011895532488
PubMed id: 11599200
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric