Cardiovascular risk a concern when prescribing diabetes treatments, survey finds

German family-owned drug major Boehringer Ingelheim and US drug major Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) revealed that 79% of nearly 800 physicians in four Asian countries felt that the complexity of managing type 2 diabetes is “underestimated."

The online poll contacted physicians in Japan, China, India and South Korea who treat people with the disease. Some 90% felt that health care practitioners (HNPs) and patients could gain from additional medical information and patient support materials as despite these complexities, high quality, structured patient education can help to improve health outcomes and significantly improve quality of life.

Cardiovascular risk a concern

As people with type 2 diabetes have an increased risk of heart disease and stroke compared to those without the condition, the survey also highlighted the importance of managing cardiovascular risk. Some 94% of respondents believed the management of cardiovascular risk influenced their decision when prescribing an oral anti-hyperglycemic treatment. Half of the physicians surveyed ranked ‘number of doses per day’ as the factor that influenced them the most when prescribing an oral anti-hyperglycemic agent, in addition to the management of blood glucose.

Klaus Dugi, corporate senior vice president medicine, Boehringer Ingelheim, said: “More than 60% of the world’s diabetes population lives in Asia and physicians treating type 2 diabetes in this region acknowledge that this is a complex condition. Despite the numerous challenges type 2 diabetes can present in the face of rising prevalence, results from this survey show that healthcare professionals in Asia are evaluating the full spectrum of available treatments, dosing regimens, risk factors and co-morbidities to achieve the best possible health outcomes for their patients.”

The results of this poll echo those from a similar survey in September of more than 1,000 primary care healthcare professionals across eight European countries. The impact of cardiovascular risk in treating type 2 diabetes was also highlighted in these results, with almost 74% of the surveyed believed the management of cardiovascular risk is underestimated and 87% of respondents regard cardiovascular risk as a key consideration when making treatment decisions.