Prevalence of Physiological, Pathological and Behavioral Risk Factors in Patients Treated with Antidiabetic Sulfonylureas

Diabetes mellitus is an important public health problem because of its increased incidence and its devastating complications. In addition to this, it was observed an increase in prevalence for diabetes risk factors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of the pathophysiological and behavioral risk factors among patients treated with oral hypoglycemic sulfonylureas.

Material and methods: It were analyzed the observation sheets of 200 patients ambulatory treated at the “Providența” Medical Center.

Results and discussions: Most of the patients were aged over 65 years, being 48.5% women and 51.5% men. The obesity was the most frequent (88%) risk factor in patients; the majority of them were included in the “overweight” and “first- degree obesity” class (72%). Regarding associated comorbidities, hypertension was found in 77% of cases, followed by dyslipidemia. In terms of physiological and behavioral aspects, age and alcohol consumption were predominant.

Conclusions: A significant percentage of diabetic patients treated with hypoglycemic sulfonylureas present a high prevalence of the risk factors and even two or three factors associated.