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Table 1 Comparison of first 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

First visit characteristics

Overall (N = 193)

Retained (R) (N = 59)

Discharged (D/C) (N = 46)

Defaulted (DF) (N = 88)

Over all p-value

R vs. D/C

R vs. DF

D/C vs. DF

 Age (mean, SD)

59.1 (12.3)

59.1 (9.9)

60.6 (14)

58.3 (12.9)

0.5944

   

 Male (%)

106 (54.9)

28 (47.5)

25 (54.4)

53 (60.2)

0.3112

   

 Distance from clinic (km)(median, IQR)

12.4 (7.4–20.5)

14.2 (7.9–20.7)

13.4 (7.2–17.8)

10.7 (7.5–23.9)

0.7194

   

 Urban (%)

174 (90.2)

51 (86.4)

45 (97.8)

78 (88.6)

0.1227

0.0741

0.6906

0.0967

 Number of re-referrals (%)

36 (18.8)

14 (24.1%)

3 (6.5%)

19 (21.6%)

0.0477

0.0158

0.7188

0.0254

Medical history

        

 Duration DM2 (years) – (median, IQR)

6 (1–12)

8 (2–15)

2.5 (1–8.5)

7 (2.5–12)

0.0187

0.0146

0.7622

0.0114

 Hypertension (%)

142 (74)

44 (74.6)

34 (75.6)

64 (72.7)

0.9321

   

 Dyslipidemia (%)

154 (83.7)

49 (86.0)

36 (83.7)

69 (82.1)

0.8338

   

 Psychiatric disease (%)

41 (21.9)

16 (27.6)

7 (15.6)

18 (21.4)

0.3388

   

Macrovascular complications

        

 CAD (%)

41 (22.5)

16 (28.6)

8 (18.2)

17 (20.7)

0.4066

   

 PVD (%)

11 (6.0)

5 (8.5)

1 (2.3)

5 (6.1)

0.5275

   

 CVA/TIA (%)

10 (5.3)

6 (10.2)

0

4 (4.7)

0.0719

0.0380

0.3170

0.3005

 Any macrovascular complications (%)

51 (28.3)

21 (36.8)

8 (18.6)

22 (27.5)

0.1311

0.0466

0.2455

0.2733

Microvascular complications

        

 Nephropathy (%)

49 (27.1)

18 (31.6)

9 (20.9)

22 (27.2)

0.4945

   

 Retinopathy (%)

26 (17.6)

12 (23.5)

2 (5.9)

12 (19.1)

0.1026

0.0316

0.5595

0.1281

 Neuropathy (%)

49 (26.9)

13 (22.4)

7 (16.3)

29 (35.8)

0.0424

0.4443

0.0901

0.0226

 Any microvascular complications (%)

79 (40.9)

24 (47.1)

13 (33.3)

42 (59.2)

0.0328

0.1897

0.1860

0.0096

Disease status

        

 HbA1c (%)(mean, SD)

8.5 (1.9)

8.6 (1.8)

7.9 (1.9)

8.7 (1.9)

0.0609

0.0669

0.6694

0.0243

 HbA1c (IFCC units mmol/mol)

69

70

63

72

    

 HbA1c ≤7.0% or 53 mmol/mol (%)

47 (25.5)

16 (27.6)

17 (39.5)

14 (16.9)

0.0199

0.2055

0.1259

0.0051

 Weight (kg) (mean, SD)

94.1 (23.2)

93.0 (22.3)

88.9 (18.9)

97.6 (25.3)

0.1122

0.3252

0.2608

0.0448

 BMI (mean, SD)

33.8 (7.7)

33.8 (7.8)

32.5(6.3)

34.5 (8.2)

0.3738

   

 SBP (mean, SD)

140.9 (20.0)

141.2 (23.2)

138.7 (19.3)

141.8 (18.0)

0.6879

   

 DBP (mean, SD)

75.1 (10.0)

75.5 (11.1)

75.4 (9.4)

74.6 (9.5)

0.8267

   

 Total Cholesterol (mean, SD)

4.99 (1.41)

4.96 (1.44)

4.98 (1.1)

5.02 (1.55)

0.9694

   

 HDL-C (mean, SD)

1.19 (0.33)

1.22 (0.32)

1.21 (0.33)

1.15 (0.33)

0.5015

   

 LDL-C (mean, SD)

2.65 (1.01)

2.64 (1.04)

2.85 (1.03)

2.53 (0.97)

0.3139

   

 Triglycerides (median, IQR)

2.06 (1.5–2.92)

1.92 (1.39–2.99)

2.12 (1.58–2.59)

2.18 (1.5–2.99)

0.8033

   

 TC:HDL-C (mean, SD)

4.33 (1.41)

4.19 (1.27)

4.35 (1.27)

4.43 (1.59)

0.6311

   

 Smoker (%)

37 (20.1%)

8 (13.8)

7 (16.3)

22 (26.5)

0.1390

0.7283

0.0695

0.1960

First visit medications

        

 On Insulin (%)

47 (24.4%)

23 (39.0)

3 (6.5)

21 (23.9)

0.0006

0.0001

0.0498

0.0129

 On ACE-I/ARB (%)

114 (59.7)

44 (74.6)

25 (54.4)

45 (52.3)

0.0191

0.0303

0.0069

0.8245

 On ASA (%)

76 (39.8)

26 (44.1)

16 (35.6)

34 (39.1)

0.6684

   

 On Statin (%)

98 (50.8)

34 (57.6)

23 (50.0)

41 (46.6)

0.4198

   
  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.