Incidence of microvascular complications of type 2 diabetes: A 12 year longitudinal study from Karachi-Pakistan

Objectives: To estimate the incidence of microvascular complications among subjects with type 2 diabetes at a tertiary care hospital.

Methods: This retrospective longitudinal follow-up study assessed the data records of type 2 diabetic subjects who visited the outpatient department of Baqai Institute of Diabetology and Endocrinology, Baqai Medical University, from January 2005 to April 2016. Subjects with gestational diabetes, type 1 diabetes and with history of any microvascular complication were excluded. Medical records were obtained through electronic database (Health Management System). Statistical analyses were conducted using STATA version 14 and SPSS version 20.

Results: The incidence of microvascular complications was 92.8, 106.2, and 130.2 per 1000 person per years for retinopathy, neuropathy and nephropathy respectively. Retinopathy, neuropathy and nephropathy were significantly high among diabetic patients with duration of diabetes >10 years followed by 5-10 years. Incidence of retinopathy and nephropathy was significantly higher in patients who had HbA1c>7% than patients with HbA1c≤7% (pvalue < 0.05). Higher incidence rate of all three microvascular complications were seen in subjects with hypertension than subjects without hypertension.

Conclusion: A high incidence of microvascular complications is found in subjects with type 2 diabetes. Poor glycaemic control, longer duration of diabetes and hypertension was found to be associated with the occurrence of these complications.