Polypharmacy in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Insights from an Internal Medicine Department

• Main Authors: Elena-Codruța Dobrică, Mihnea-Alexandru Găman, Matei-Alexandru Cozma, Ovidiu Gabriel Bratu, Anca Pantea Stoian, Camelia Cristina Diaconu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-08-01
• Series: Medicina
• Subjects: diabetes mellitus; polypharmacy; drug-drug interactions; food-drug interactions; comorbidities; multimorbidity; elderly
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1010-660X/55/8/436

<em>Background and Objectives</em>: Polypharmacy heavily impacts the quality of life of patients worldwide. It is a necessary evil in many disorders, and especially in type 2 diabetes mellitus, as patients require treatment both for this condition and its related or unrelated comorbidities. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the use of polypharmacy in type 2 diabetes mellitus vs. non-diabetes patients. <em>Materials and Methods</em>: A cross-sectional retrospective observational study was conducted. We collected the medical records of patients hospitalized in the Internal Medicine Clinic of the Clinical Emergency Hospital of Bucharest, Romania, for a period of two months (01/01/2018–28/02/2018). Patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus were included in the study group, whereas patients who were not diabetic were used as controls. <em>Results</em>: The study group consisted of 63 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (mean age 69.19 ± 9.67 years, range 46–89 years; 52.38% males). The control group included 63 non-diabetes patients (mean age 67.05 ± 14.40 years, range 42–93 years, 39.68% males). Diabetic patients had more comorbidities (10.35 ± 3.09 vs. 7.48 ± 3.59, <i>p</i> = 0.0001) and received more drugs (7.81 ± 2.23 vs. 5.33 ± 2.63, <i>p</i> = 0.0001) vs. non-diabetic counterparts. The mean number of drug-drug and food-drug interactions was higher in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients vs. controls: 8.86 ± 5.76 vs. 4.98 ± 5.04, <i>p</i> = 0.0003 (minor: 1.22 ± 1.42 vs. 1.27 ± 1.89; moderate: 7.08 ± 4.08 vs. 3.54 ± 3.77; major: 0.56 ± 0.74 vs. 0.37 ± 0.77) and 2.63 ± 1.08 vs. 2.19 ± 1.42 (<i>p</i> = 0.0457), respectively. <em>Conclusions</em>: Polypharmacy should be an area of serious concern also in type 2 diabetes mellitus, especially in the elderly. In our study, type 2 diabetes mellitus patients received more drugs than their non-diabetes counterparts and were exposed to more drug-drug and food-drug interactions.