Addition of Insulin to Treatment Regimen in Type 2 Diabetes: The Significance of Age and Duration among Sudanese Diabetic Patients

Background: Type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease and as the result of patient’s age and diabetes duration, β-cell ability for insulin secretion deteriorates continually and finally fails to meet body requirement. Intensification of treatment drug regimen including addition of insulin is critical to maintain glycemic target and reduce developing of long-term complications. Objective: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of diabetes duration and patients’ age on addition of insulin to treatment regimen. Methods: A single centre, cross-sectional hospital-based study was done among 351 diabetes Mellitus (DM) patients visiting Ribat University Hospital Diabetic Clinic, Khartoum State, Sudan. Data was collected using constructed, validated and multiple-choice questionnaire. Results: From 351 patients enrolled in the study, female were 65.8% and male 34.2%. About 64.4% were on oral anti-diabetic; 35.6% on insulin; about 31.6% shifted to insulin when their ages above 40 years; and 22.8% when diabetes duration was above 5 years. Co-morbidity was 54.4% and 60.2% of patients had hypertension. Conclusion: Interactions between age and longer duration of diabetes were mostly significant reasons for transferring patients to insulin. Percent of insulin users and co-morbidity was within international range.