Glucose, Lipid, and Blood Pressure Control in Australian Adults With Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract

The risk of diabetes complications can be reduced by tight control of blood glucose (1), serum lipids (2), and blood pressure (3,4). However, evidence from a limited number of studies (5–9) indicates that many people with type 2 diabetes do not achieve recommended targets for these factors. We examined levels of glucose, lipid, and blood pressure control in participants with type 2 diabetes taking part in the national population-based Australian Diabetes, Obesity, and Lifestyle Study (AusDiab) (10) conducted during 1999–2000. AusDiab was a national population-based survey of the general population and has been described in detail earlier (10). Diagnosis of diabetes was based on self-reported physician diagnosis of diabetes confirmed either by self-reported use of hypoglycemic drugs or results from a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (11). Participants who started insulin treatment within 2 years of diagnosis were classified as having type 1 diabetes (if diabetes onset was at age ≥40 years; BMI also had to be <27 kg/m2). All other cases were classified as type 2 diabetes. Fasting (≥9 h) serum total cholesterol, LDL and HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides were measured (Olympus AU600 analyzer; Olympus Optical, Tokyo, Japan). Total glycated hemoglobin analysis used high-performance liquid chromatography (Bio-Rad Variant Hemoglobin Testing System; Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA) with standardized conversion to HbA1c values …