Background: This study was carried out to estimate the treatment characteristics and prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) diagnosed in the counties of Tarragona (548,900 inhabitants) from the consumption of hypoglycemic medication.
Methods: A stratified aleatory sample was made of the prescription of oral hypoglycemic agents (OHA) and insulin (INS) in 14 centers of primary health care. Calculation of pharmacy dispensing and prescriptions (computer network of the Institut Català de la Salut) was carried out with a relation of the mean doses of the survey and the estimate of the consumer population being made. A contrast was made of the system with the daily doses defined (DDD/1,000 inhabitants/day) of the different OHA and INS preparations.
Results: Following aleatorization a representative sample of 550 diabetics, 64 (11.6%) type I and 486 (88.4%) type II was obtained. In total, 61 were treated with diet alone (IC 95%; 8-13%, p less than 0.05); 249 (41-49%) with OHA (51% of type II) and 240 (39-47%) received insulin, all the type I and 176 (36%) type II. In 23 cases (2-5%) multiple therapy with different drugs was confirmed and 72 (10-15%) were treated with the maximal doses of OHA recommended. The rate of OHA/INS was 2.02-2.05. The prevalence of pharmaco-treated DM was 1.9% (prescriptions of public health) and 2.1-2.3% (total consumption). The method for DDD was evaluated as between 1.8% (prescriptions) and 2.0% (total consumption). Globally, during 1990 the prevalence of DM diagnosed in Tarragona was estimated as between 2.1-2.5%.
Conclusions: The estimation of the prevalence of diabetes mellitus indicated higher numbers than those obtained in other studies providing a first line indicator for the planning of care for diabetics in this demarcation. The study also identified the real therapeutic tendencies permitting the extraction of lines of action for the education of diabetics and the formation of professionals attending these patients.