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Table 2 Comparison of last visit characteristics among patients retained, discharged, and defaulted

From: Into the abyss: diabetes process of care indicators and outcomes of defaulters from a Canadian tertiary care multidisciplinary diabetes clinic

Last visit characteristics

Overall (N = 193)

Retained (R) (N = 59)

Discharged (D/C) (N = 46)

Defaulted (DF) (N = 88)

Overall p-value

R vs. D/C

R vs. DF

D/C vs. DF

Macrovascular complications

        

 CAD (%)

45 (23.8)

17 (29.3)

9 (20.0)

19 (22.1)

0.4802

   

 PVD (%)

14 (7.5)

6 (10.2)

1 (2.3)

7 (8.2)

0.3081

   

 CVA/TIA (%)

12 (6.3)

7 (12.1)

1 (2.2)

4 (4.6)

0.1305

0.1336

0.1164

0.4980

 Any macrovascular complications (%)

57 (30.0)

23 (39.0)

10 (22.2)

24 (27.9)

0.1539

   

Microvascular complications

        

 Nephropathy (%)

65 (35.7)

24 (40.7)

11 (25.6)

30 (37.5)

0.2635

   

 Retinopathy (%)

31 (18.8)

14 (25.6)

2 (5.1)

15 (21.7)

0.0406

0.0121

0.7080

0.0228

 Neuropathy (%)

50 (27.3)

15 (25.9)

7 (15.9)

28 (34.6)

0.0785

0.2261

0.2735

0.0265

 Any microvascular complications (%)

95 (53.7)

31 (53.5)

16 (37.2)

48 (63.2)

0.0243

0.1057

0.2576

0.0064

Disease status (last visit):

        

 HbA1c (%)(mean, SD)

7.6 (1.6)

7.8 (1.8)

6.6 (0.9)

7.9 (1.5)

<0.0001

<0.0001

0.7069

<0.0001

 HbA1c (IFCC units mmol/mol)

60

62

49

63

    

 HbA1c ≤ 7.0% or 53 mmol/mol (%)

86 (46.2)

25 (42.4)

37 (84.1)

24 (28.9)

<0.0001

<0.0001

0.0964

<0.0001

 Change in HbA1c (%) (mean, SD)

−0.90 (1.7)

−0.74 (1.75)

−1.28 (1.87)

−0.80 (1.69)

0.2480

   

 Weight (kg) (mean, SD)

94.5 (23.3)

94.3 (21.8)

88.8 (21.2)

97.6 (25.0)

0.1289

0.2074

0.4183

0.0495

 Change in weight (mean, SD)

0.8 (5.1)

1.6 (5.6)

0.3 (5.3)

0.4 (4.7)

0.2978

   

 BMI

33.9 (7.7)

34.2 (7.4)

32.5 (7.2)

34.5 (8.2)

0.3726

   

 SBP (mean, SD)

139.2 (19.8)

141.7 (21.8)

133.4 (17.9)

140.5 (18.9)

0.0712

0.0390

0.7263

0.0376

 DBP (mean, SD)

73.1 (9.6)

71.8 (9.6)

72.4 (10.4)

74.2 (9.1)

0.2828

   

 Total Chol (mean, SD)

4.5 (1.4)

4.4 (1.2)

4.4 (1.1)

4.7 (1.6)

0.2377

   

 HDL-C (mean, SD)

1.2 (0.3)

1.1 (0.3)

1.2 (0.3)

1.2 (0.3)

0.6053

   

 LDL-C (mean, SD)

2.3 (1.0)

2.4(1.0)

2.3 (1.0)

2.3 (1.0)

0.8984

   

 Triglycerides (median, QR)

1.8 (1.2–2.7)

1.7 (1.3–2.5)

1.8 (1.2–2.5)

1.9 (1.3–3.2)

0.3467

   

 TC:HDL-C (mean, SD)

4.1 (1.4)

4.03 (1.2)

3.82 (1.2)

4.31 (1.6)

0.1874

   

 Smoker (%)

33 (18.8)

6 (10.9)

7 (16.3)

20 (25.6)

0.0897

0.4367

0.0349

0.2365

Last visit medications:

        

 On insulin (%)

75 (38.9)

37 (62.7)

7 (15.2)

31 (35.2)

<0.0001

<0.0001

0.0011

0.0147

 On ACE-I/ARB (%)

144 (74.6)

48 (81.4)

33 (71.7)

63 (71.6)

0.3604

   

 On ASA (%)

94 (48.7)

37 (62.7)

20 (43.5)

37 (42.1)

0.0351

0.0497

0.0140

0.8734

 On Statin (%)

146 (75.7)

49 (83.1)

37 (80.4)

60 (68.2)

0.0825

0.7297

0.0436

0.1320

Clinic activity

        

 Median duration of follow-up (months)

16 (6 to 31)

33(31 to 35)

10 (4 to 18)

9 (5 to 17)

<0.0001

<0.0001

<0.0001

0.8827

 % of MD visits where meds changed (Mean, SD)

48.7 (30.0)

55.2 (23.1)

34.4 (25.7)

51.8 (33.9)

0.0007

<0.0001

0.5037

0.0027

 % of patient encounters that were no-shows (Median, IQR)

14.3 (0 to 33.3)

8.3 (0 to 16.7)

0 (0 to 14.3)

30 (13.8 to 50.0)

<0.0001

0.1112

<0.0001

<0.0001

 Number of visits with MD (mean, SD)

4.9 (3.1)

8.1 (2.8)

3.3 (1.9)

3.7 (2.0)

<0.0001

<0.0001

<0.0001

0.2907

 Number of visits with RN (mean, SD)

2.5 (2.1)

3.7 (2.6)

2.1 (1.7)

2.0 (1.7)

<0.0001

0.0006

<0.0001

0.6919

 Number of visits with RD (mean, SD)

2.4 (2.0)

3.5 (2.5)

2.2 (1.9)

1.7 (1.3)

<0.0001

0.0036

<0.0001

0.1053

  1. Note: p-values significant at 5%, with Bonferroni adjustment for pairwise comparisons, are printed in bold type, R Retained, D/C Discharged, DF Defaulted, CAD Coronary artery disease, PVD Peripheral vascular disease, CVA Cerebral vascular accident, TIA Transient ischemic attack, HbA1c Glycated hemoglobin, kg kilograms, BMI Body mass index, SBP Systolic blood pressure, DBP Diastolic blood pressure, HDL-C High-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, TC:HDL-C Total cholesterol to HDL-cholesterol ratio, LDL-C Low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, ACE-I Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, ARB Angiotensin receptor blocker (antagonist), ASA Acetylsalicylic acid, MD Medical doctor, RN Registered nurse, RD Registered dietitian, SD Standard deviation, IQR Interquartile range.