Glycemic control among diabetic patients in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

• Main Authors: Eyob Alemayehu Gebreyohannes, Adeladlew Kassie Netere, Sewunet Admasu Belachew
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2019-01-01
• Series: PLoS ONE
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0221790

<h4>Introduction</h4>Ethiopia recorded the highest numbers of people with diabetes in Africa. It is not uncommon for diabetic patients to have poor glycemic control leading to a number of complications. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to evaluate the level of glycemic control among diabetic patients in Ethiopia by combining the studies from the existing literature.<h4>Materials and methods</h4>The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines was employed to plan and conduct this review. A comprehensive electronic-based literature search was conducted in the databases of MEDLINE, HINARI, GOOGLE SCHOLAR, and SCIENCEDIRECT. Open meta-analyst software was used to perform meta-analyses. Proportions of good glycemic control among diabetic patients was calculated. Odds ratio was also calculated to check the presence of statistically significant difference in glycemic control among patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.<h4>Results</h4>A total of 22 studies were included in the final analysis. Meta-analysis of 16 studies showed that only one-third of patients [34.4% (95% CI: 27.9%-40.9%), p<0.001] achieving good glycemic control based on fasting plasma glucose measurements. Similar to the studies that used fasting plasma glucose, the rate of good glycemic control was found to be 33.2% [(95% CI: 21.8%-44.6%), p<0.001] based on glycosylated hemoglobin measurements. There was no statistically significant difference in the rates of glycemic control between patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes (p = 0.167).<h4>Conclusion</h4>High proportion of diabetic patients were unable to achieve good glycemic control. There was no difference in glycemic control among type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients.