"Half of Diabetes Patients Do Not Take Medication Even After Diagnosis" ... What Are the Consequences? [Health Check]

[Financial News] A study found that patients who began drug treatment within three months of being diagnosed with diabetes had a 69% lower risk of death within five years than those who delayed treatment for more than 12 months.
Type 2 diabetes is a representative chronic disease that is often diagnosed or treated late because its early symptoms are mild. However, if treatment is neglected soon after diagnosis, the risk of future complications and death can rise sharply.
To examine this issue, a research team led by Professor Ju-Young Shin of Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Dr. Go Hwa-yeon, doctoral student Jeong Gyeong-yeon, and Professor Kim Ju-hwan, together with Professor Jang Yu-su's team at the Kangbuk Samsung Hospital Cohort Research Institute, analyzed the link between the timing of glucose-lowering treatment after a type 2 diabetes diagnosis and the risk of cardiovascular disease and death in 23,452 Korean adults using health screening and National Health Insurance data.
The researchers followed adults newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, defined as glycated hemoglobin of 6.5% or higher or fasting blood glucose of 126 mg/dL or higher, and divided them into four groups: those who started medication within three months, within six months, within 12 months, and those who did not receive treatment for more than 12 months. They tracked the participants for five years.
As a result, the earlier treatment began, the lower the risk of major cardiovascular events tended to be. In particular, patients who started diabetes medication within three months of diagnosis had a 69% lower risk of death within five years than those who went untreated for more than 12 months.
Professor Jang Yu-su of Kangbuk Samsung Hospital said, "In this study, more than half of all participants had not started drug treatment within five years after being diagnosed with diabetes." He added, "Many patients with type 2 diabetes delay taking medication even after diagnosis because they have no early symptoms, and this study shows that active treatment in the early stage of diagnosis is important in the long term."
The study was conducted with support from the Patient-Centered Medical Technology Optimization Research Project (PACEN), funded by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), and was published in the latest issue of JAMA Network Open. 


[email protected] Medical Reporter Jeong Myeong-jin Reporter