Pharmaceutical Care of Elderly Patients with Poorly Controlled Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Care of the elderly with diabetes is more complicated than that for other age groups. The elderly and/or those with multiple comorbidities are often excluded from randomized controlled trials of treatments for diabetes. The heterogeneity of health status of the elderly also increases the difficulty in diabetes care; therefore, diabetes care for the elderly should be individualized. Motivated patients educated about diabetes benefit the most from collaborating with a multidisciplinary patient-care team. A pharmacist is an important team member by serving as an educator, coach, healthcare manager, and pharmaceutical care provider.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of pharmaceutical care on glycemic control of ambulatory elderly patients with type 2 diabetes.

Setting: A 421-bed district hospital in Nantou City, Taiwan.

Method: We conducted a randomized controlled clinical trial involving 100 patients with type 2 diabetes with poor glycemic control (HbA1c levels of ≥9.0 %) aged ≥65 years over 6 months. Participants were randomly assigned to a standard-care (control, n = 50) or pharmaceutical-care (intervention, n = 50) group. Pharmaceutical care was provided by a certified diabetes-educator pharmacist who identified and resolved drug-related problems and established a procedure for consultations pertaining to medication. The Mann–Whitney test was used to evaluate nonparametric quantitative data. Statistical significance was defined as P < 0.05.

Main Outcome Measure: The change in the mean HbA1c level from the baseline to the next level within 6 months after recruiting.

Results: Nonparametric data (Mann–Whitney test) showed that the mean HbA1c level significantly decreased (0.83 %) after 6 months for the intervention group compared with an increase of 0.43 % for the control group (P ≤ 0.001). Medical expenses between groups did not significantly differ (−624.06 vs. −418.7, P = 0.767). There was no significant difference in hospitalization rates between groups.

Conclusion: The pharmacist intervention program provided pharmaceutical services that improved long-term, safe control of blood sugar levels for ambulatory elderly patients with diabetes and did not increase medical expenses.