Characteristics and treatment patterns of patients with type 2 diabetes in Lebanon: the DISCOVER study

Background: Lebanon is part of the global DISCOVER study, a global, noninterventional, multicentre, prospective study with 3-years of follow-up. Aims: The aim of this study is to describe real-world clinical practice in terms of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) disease management and treatment patterns within Lebanon. Methods: Baseline demographic and clinical parameters were captured on a standardized case report form, according to routine clinical practice at each clinical site. Results: We recruited 348 patients. At the initiation of second-line therapy, mean duration of diabetes was 6.7 [standard deviation (SD) 6.5] years; mean HbA1c and fasting plasma glucose levels were 8.5% (SD 1.6%) and 178.7 (SD 56.5) mg/dL respectively. Almost half the patients were hypertensive (45.1%) or had dyslipidaemia (48.6%). Metformin monotherapy was used as first-line therapy in 56.9% of the patients and upfront dual therapy in 25%. The primary reason for changing first line therapy was poor glycaemic control. The main factors in choosing the second-line therapy were efficacy, tolerability and hypoglycaemia. Conclusion: Clinical inertia was evident in this cohort of patients as they had suboptimal glycaemic control at the time of enrolment and the initiation of second-line therapy. Treatment intensification is required to reduce diabetes-related adverse outcomes.