Influence of guideline adherence and parameter control on the clinical outcomes in patients with diabetic nephropathy

Development of a generalised tool for evaluating success of clinical practice guidelines implementation (A-GIST)

OBJECTIVES

To develop a generalised tool to evaluate the success of implementation of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs).

DESIGN AND SETTING

Systematic review, group brainstorming discussion and modified Delphi method.

PARTICIPANTS

A steering group (3 members) was assembled responsible for the guidance and ensuring stakeholder's involvement. A tool development group (24 members) of leading experts provided expertise in refining the frame and items during the development and participated in the Delphi process. And a secretary group (7 members) was responsible for the organization and coordination, systematic reviewing, drafting of the preliminary list of items, documenting and revising the tool according to the suggestions of the development group.

INTERVENTIONS

Four process stages were employed. First, the project was launched with core groups formed for the development. Second, based on the Reach Effectiveness Adoption Implementation Maintenance framework, a systematic review of existing methods for evaluating the success of CPGs implementation and a brainstorming discussion were conducted to form a preliminary list. Third, a modified Delphi method was organised, integrating a multidisciplinary face-to-face consultation meeting with two rounds of online Delphi consultations. Fourth, the tool was revised and finalised incorporating all expert suggestions.

RESULTS

Development teams comprising multidisciplinary experts were formed. In the systematic review, 7 biomedical literature databases were searched, and 208 pieces of literature were included. After three rounds of brainstorming discussions on items identified in the literature, a 23-item preliminary list was produced. In the modified Delphi method, 14 experts made 23 main suggestions in the face-to-face meeting on the list. 13 experts participated in the first round of Delphi consultation, reached agreement on 20 items, removed 4 items and added 1 new item. 11 experts attended the second-round consultation and had an agreement to include 20 items after revision.

CONCLUSIONS

The Guideline Implementation Success Assessment Tool (A-GIST) was systematically developed as a comprehensive tool to assess the success of CPGs implementation. It comprises 5 dimensions, Reach, Adoption, Implementation, Effectiveness and Maintenance, encompassing 20 items that integrate perspectives from both clinicians and patients. A-GIST is designed to facilitate evaluating, benchmarking and cross-comparison of implementation success between guidelines, facilities and regions. Additionally, it provides evidence-based insights to inform the development of targeted strategies for optimising guideline implementation practices.

Adherence to ADA Clinical Guidelines in Type 2 Diabetes Management in Public Health Clinics in Palestine

Background

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is a significant global public health concern. Adherence to established guidelines is essential for effective management of this metabolic disease.

Objective

This study aimed to evaluate the current practices of physicians in Palestine regarding their adherence to ADA guidelines for type 2 diabetes management.

Methods

A retrospective, cross-sectional, multicenter study was conducted by reviewing patients' medical records. This study included 362 patients aged ≥ 18 years diagnosed with type 2 diabetes for at least one year and receiving treatment at multiple outpatient clinics in Palestine. Adherence to ADA guidelines was assessed by selecting an appropriate antidiabetic agent based on patient confounding factors and comorbidities, frequency of diabetes monitoring, screening, glycemic control, and optimization of hypertension and dyslipidemia medication.

Results

Half of the participants were female. 53% of the participants did not achieve their A1c target goal. Adherence to ADA guidelines for selecting the preferred antidiabetic medication was only 32.22%. Very low adherence to prescribing GLP1 agonists (0.5%) and SGLT2 inhibitors (7%) when indicated. Biguanides were the most prescribed medications (83.1%), followed by sulfonylurea (35.1%), and insulin (28.2%). Only 43% and 66% of the patients were on appropriate lipid and hypertension medications, respectively, as recommended by ADA guidelines. Foot assessment and eye examinations were performed in only 27% and 55% of the patients, respectively. Age, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and sulfonylurea use were significantly associated with lower glycemic control.

Conclusion

This study demonstrated that Adherence to ADA guidelines for diabetes management is suboptimal in selecting appropriate antidiabetic medication based on patient confounding factors, potentially contributing to the high prevalence of complications and comorbidities observed in patients with diabetes in Palestine. Medical associations and health institutions must adopt programs to increase professional education and awareness of the current guidelines to improve outcomes.

An investigation of physicians' prescribing behaviors related to antidiabetic agents for Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients and associated factors in Taiwan

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to examine the factors that may influence physicians' choice of antidiabetic agents. In addition, we investigated physicians' decision-making process and treatment of T2DM patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Finally, we wanted to determine whether physicians knew the latest recommendations for T2DM treatment.

METHODS

The study was conducted as a cross-sectional survey using an online self-administered questionnaire to collect data from physicians in Taiwan. We enrolled licensed physicians who worked in hospitals or clinics with an average monthly T2DM patient load of 100 patients. Descriptive statistics, the independent samples t-test, and the Chi-square test were used for data analysis. Moreover, the association was examined between respondents' demographics and the proportion of respondents who answered each T2DM treatment question correctly.

RESULTS

A total of 986 invitations were sent out, and 324 completed questionnaires were received. The most important factors that may influence physicians' choice of antidiabetic agents in each factor category were major comorbidities of patients, coverage of insurance, guideline recommendations, cardiovascular disease benefit, and whether a drug is the brand-name drug, respectively. When choosing second-line antidiabetic agents for T2DM patients with CKD, the most common reasons for doing so were recommendations of clinical guidelines (83.6%) and patients' renal function (59.6%) while SGLT2is were respondents' most commonly chosen treatment. Respondents were more familiar with ADA recommendations for patients with certain major comorbidities than with the drugs' labeled indications. Moreover, physicians who were younger, female, specialty in diabetes, or working in medical centers were more likely to give correct answers to certain questions about ADA guidelines (all p < .05).

CONCLUSION

This study provides a better understanding of the influential factors, treatment choices, and reasoning related to physicians' prescribing of antidiabetic agents in Taiwan. In addition, knowledge gaps in various physician groups were identified.

Doctors' adherence to guidelines recommendations and glycaemic control in diabetic patients in Quetta, Pakistan: Findings from an observational study

Background

Poor control of diabetes mellitus (DM) is partly attributed to doctors' poor adherence to guidelines.

Objective

To evaluate doctors' adherence to pharmacotherapeutic recommendations of DM management guidelines and factors associated with guidelines adherence and glycaemic control.

Methods

This prospective observational study included 30 doctors who were treating DM patients in their private clinics in Quetta, Pakistan. On visit 1, a total of 600 prescriptions written by 30 enrolled doctors (20 patients per doctor) were noted along with patients' sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. American Diabetes Association guidelines was used as a reference. The prescriptions noted were judged for guidelines compliance. Of 600 enrolled patients, 450 patients (15 patients per doctor) were followed for one more visit and included in final analysis. Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level noted one visit 2 was related with the respective prescription on visit 1. Data were analyzed by SPSS (version 23). A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results

Patients received a median of two antidiabetic drugs (range: 1-5). A total of 73.1% patients were on polytherapy. Metformin was the most frequently prescribed (88.4%) antidiabetic followed by gliptins (46.2%). A total of 41.6% prescriptions were judged guidelines compliant. In multivariate binary logistic regressions (MVBLR) analysis, chronic kidney disease (CKD) (OR = 0.422) and polytherapy (OR = 0.367) had statistically significant negative associations (p-value <0.05) with guidelines' compliant prescriptions. The group of doctors comprised of specialists and consultants wrote significantly (p-value = 0.004) high number of guidelines adherent prescriptions (mean rank = 20.25) than the group comprised of medical officers (mean rank = 11.34). On visit 2, only 39.5% patients were on goal glycemic levels. In MVBLR analysis, suffering from dyslipidemia (OR = 0.134) and CKD (OR = 0.111), receiving sulfonylurea (OR = 0.156) and guidelines' compliant prescription (OR = 4.195) were significantly (p-value <0 .05) associated with glycemic control.

Conclusion

Although guidelines compliant prescriptions produced better glycemic control, but doctors' adherence to guidelines and glycemic control were poor. Polytherapy and CKD emerged as risk factors for guidelines divergent prescriptions. Dyslipidemia, CKD and reception of sulfonylureas had negative association with glycemic control.

Body Mass Index and Risk of Diabetic Nephropathy: A Mendelian Randomization Study

CONTEXT

The associations of obesity and diabetic nephropathy (DN) in type 2 diabetes are inconsistent in observational studies, and causality remains unclear.

OBJECTIVE

To explore the causal effect of body mass index (BMI) on DN, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and proteinuria in type 2 diabetes by a 2-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis.

METHODS

A total of 56 genetic variants were selected as instrumental variables for BMI in 158 284 participants from BioBank Japan, and their effects on DN risk, eGFR, and proteinuria were estimated in 3972 individuals with type 2 diabetes. Then, sex-stratified MR analysis was performed between BMI and DN. We selected generalized summary MR analysis as the primary method and 6 other robust methods to test MR assumptions.

RESULTS

One SD increase in BMI was causally associated with higher DN risk [odds ratio (OR) 3.76, 95% CI 1.88-7.53, P < 0.001] and lower eGFR level (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.59-0.86, P < 0.001). However, BMI was not causally associated with proteinuria (P = 0.22). Sex-stratified analyses indicated the causal effect of BMI on DN was stronger in women (OR 14.81, 95% CI 2.67-82.05, P = 0.002) than in men (OR 3.48, 95% CI 1.18-10.27, P = 0.02). Sensitivity analyses did not show evidence for violation of the MR assumptions.

CONCLUSIONS

Genetic evidence showed that higher BMI levels were causally associated with increased risk of DN and decreased eGFR levels. Moreover, the increase in BMI level had a greater impact on DN risk in women.

Guidelines adherence in the prevention and management of chronic kidney disease in patients with diabetes mellitus on the background of recent European recommendations - a registry-based analysis

Background

Recent European Society of Cardiology (ESC)/European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) guidelines provide recommendations for detecting and treating chronic kidney disease (CKD) in diabetic patients. We compared clinical practice with guidelines to determine areas for improvement.

Methods

German database analysis of 675,628 patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, with 134,395 included in this analysis. Data were compared with ESC/EASD recommendations.

Results

This analysis included 17,649 and 116,747 patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, respectively. The analysis showed that 44.1 and 49.1 % patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, respectively, were annually screened for CKD. Despite anti-diabetic treatment, only 27.2 % patients with type 1 and 43.5 % patients with type 2 achieved a target HbA1c of < 7.0 %. Use of sodium-glucose transport protein 2 inhibitors (1.5 % type 1/8.7 % type 2 diabetes) and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (0.6 % type 1/5.2 % type 2 diabetes) was limited. Hypertension was controlled according to guidelines in 41.1 and 67.7 % patients aged 18–65 years with type 1 and 2 diabetes, respectively, (62.4 vs. 68.4 % in patients > 65 years). Renin angiotensin aldosterone inhibitors were used in 24.0 and 40.9 % patients with type 1 diabetes (micro- vs. macroalbuminuria) and 39.9 and 47.7 %, respectively, in type 2 diabetes.

Conclusions

Data indicate there is room for improvement in caring for diabetic patients with respect to renal disease diagnosis and treatment. While specific and potentially clinically justified reasons for non-compliance exist, the data may serve well for a critical appraisal of clinical practice decisions.