Patterns of drug use among type 2 diabetic patients with comorbidities attending a tertiary centre in Lagos Nigeria

Introduction – Diabetes care involves the use of drugs to control hyperglycaemia and treatment of comorbid disorders in order to prevent cardiovascular morbidity and other complications. This study investigated patterns of comorbidities and drug use among diabetic patients at a tertiary centre in Lagos, Nigeria. Method – This was a cross-sectional study carried out among 216 patients with type 2 DM attending Diabetes Clinic of a tertiary centre. Data was captured by using a questionnaire which documented biodata, number of comorbidities, number and combination of drugs for each participant and analysed using SPSS version 18. Results – Comorbidities were present among 215 out of 216 (99.54%) participants and hypertension and dyslipidaemia were the most common comorbid disorders. The number of pills consumed per patient ranged from 1 to10 with a mean of 4.78± 1.73 and 57.4% were on 5 pills or more. Fixed-dose combination was used in 37 (17.1%) of the patients. Majority of the patients were on metformin as monotherapy or in combination therapy. Antihypertensive most prescribed were renin-angiotensin system (RAS) blockers which was prescribed in 73% of participants. Antiplatelet drugs were used for both primary and secondary prevention of CVDs. Statin was used in less than 50% of the population. Double RAS blockade was also observed in 6% of participants. Conclusions – Comorbidities were common in the diabetic population. Pill load was high but appropriate in most patients. Statin uptake was suboptimal while there was increased uptake of antiplatelet drugs among participants