Pharmaceutical Care Reduces Risk Factors in Type 2 Diabetes
posted April 21, 2005

A 12-month pharmaceutical care program can reduce vascular risk factors in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Pharmaceutical care involves the detection, prevention, and resolution of drug-related problems, the authors explain, and has proved beneficial in other chronic diseases, including asthma and cancer.

Dr. Timothy M. E. Davis from Fremantle Hospital in Western Australia and colleagues investigated the impact of a pharmaceutical care program in a community-based sample of 180 patients with type 2 diabetes who participated in the program or received usual care.

Reductions in BMI, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, and glycosylated hemoglobin were greater in patients participating in pharmaceutical care than in the usual-care patients, the authors report. The pharmaceutical care group also experienced nonsignificant improvements in serum lipid parameters and urine albumin/creatinine ratios.

After controlling for greater use of ACE inhibitor/angiotensin 2 receptor blocker therapy, antihypertensive drug use, and antiplatelet drug therapy in the pharmaceutical care group, the researchers note, allocation to pharmaceutical care remained an independent predictor of improvements in plasma glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin.

The median 10-year risk of coronary heart disease decreased in the pharmaceutical care group but did not change significantly in the usual-care group, the results indicate. Similarly, the risk of stroke did not change for the pharmaceutical care subjects but increased for the usual-care subjects.
"Our data and those of others argue that the pharmacist can be a beneficial addition to integrated care for patients with type 2 diabetes," the investigators add.

Source: Diabetes In Control.com: Diabetes Care 2005;28:771-776.

News Article Index