Influence of comorbidities on therapeutic progression of diabetes treatment in Australian veterans: a cohort study

Vitry, Agnes I., Roughead, Elizabeth E., Preiss, Adrian K., Ryan, Philip, Ramsay, Emmae N., Gilbert, Andrew L., Caughey, Gillian E., Shakib, Sepehr, Esterman, Adrian, Zhang, Ying, and McDermott, Robyn A. (2010) Influence of comorbidities on therapeutic progression of diabetes treatment in Australian veterans: a cohort study. PLoS ONE, 5 (11). e14024. pp. 1-5.

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Abstract

Background: This study assessed whether the number of comorbid conditions unrelated to diabetes was associated with a delay in therapeutic progression of diabetes treatment in Australian veterans.

Methodology/Principal Findings: A retrospective cohort study was undertaken using data from the Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) claims database between July 2000 and June 2008. The study included new users of metformin or sulfonylurea medicines. The outcome was the time to addition or switch to another antidiabetic treatment. The total number of comorbid conditions unrelated to diabetes was identified using the pharmaceutical-based comorbidity index, Rx-Risk-V. Competing risk regression analyses were conducted, with adjustments for a number of covariates that included age, gender, residential status, use of endocrinology service, number of hospitalisation episodes and adherence to diabetes medicines. Overall, 20134 veterans were included in the study. At one year, 23.5% of patients with diabetes had a second medicine added or had switched to another medicine, with 41.4% progressing by 4 years. The number of unrelated comorbidities was significantly associated with the time to addition of an antidiabetic medicine or switch to insulin (subhazard ratio [SHR] 0.87 [95% CI 0.84-0.91], P<0.001). Depression, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, dementia, and Parkinson's disease were individually associated with a decreased likelihood of therapeutic progression. Age, residential status, number of hospitalisations and adherence to anti-diabetic medicines delayed therapeutic progression.

Conclusions/Significance: Increasing numbers of unrelated conditions decreased the likelihood of therapeutic progression in veterans with diabetes. These results have implications for the development of quality measures, clinical guidelines and the construction of models of care for management of diabetes in elderly people with comorbidities.

Item ID: 35793
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1932-6203
Additional Information:

© 2010 Vitry et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funders: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Australian Research Council (ARC)
Projects and Grants: NHMRC/ARC Ageing Well Ageing Productively Program grant APP ID 401832
Date Deposited: 15 Oct 2014 16:48
FoR Codes: 11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1117 Public Health and Health Services > 111702 Aged Health Care @ 100%
SEO Codes: 92 HEALTH > 9204 Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) > 920499 Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) not elsewhere classified @ 100%
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