Prevalence of Cardiovascular and Renal Co-morbidities in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in the Gulf, a Cross-sectional Observational Study

Introduction: Understanding comorbid conditions with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is critical for clinical decision-making regarding the choice of pharmacotherapy. This study aimed at describing the prevalence and co-prevalence of comorbidities, including chronic kidney disease (CKD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) (coronary artery disease (CAD), cerebrovascular disease, peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and congestive heart failure (CHF)) among patients with T2DM. Methods: A cross-sectional multi-center observational study on 300 patients with T2DM. Data were collected from patients’ records during the enrollment visit. Results: Overall, 38%, 10% and 2% of the patients had one, two and three comorbidities, respectively, with the number of comorbidities significantly increasing with age. The most prevalent comorbidities were CVD (17.3%), CAD (15%) and CKD (44.3%), mostly stages 2 and 3. However, the prevalence of CHF (0.7%), PAD (2.3%) and cerebrovascular diseases (1.3%) was low. The highest percentage of anti-hyperglycemic agents used was metformin (81%), dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (46%), sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors (37%), insulin (36%) and sulfonylurea (34%). The choice of the anti-hyperglycemic class did not change across age groups and gender. Conclusion: Half of the patients had T2DM only. The most prevalent comorbidity found was CKD, mainly stage 2. The comorbidity burden tended to increase significantly in older age groups.