Introduction: Ethnicity is an important factor in diabetes care.
The understanding of its effect in this country may help to
improve diabetes care, glycaemic control and diabetic
complication rates. This study was to determine the diabetes
control profile in relation to complication rates between the
three main ethnics group in Malaysia.
Methods: This nested cross-sectional study was part of the
Audit of Diabetes Control and Management (ADCM), an
ongoing cohort patient registry focused on diabetes control
and management in the primary care setting in Malaysia.
This registry registers all diabetes patients aged 18 years old
and above. Demographic data, diabetes duration, treatment
modalities, as well as various risk factors and diabetes
complications are reported. Data was handled by statisticians
using STATA version 9.
Results: A total of 20330 patients from 54 health centers were
registered at the time of this report. The majority were type 2
diabetics (99.1%) of whom 56.6% were female. The mean age
was 57.9 years (SD 11.58). Malay accounted for 56.3%, Chinese
19.5% and Indian 22.5%. There were 30.3% who attained
HbA1c < 7%. Among three main races more Chinese had
HbA1c < 6.5% (Chi-square: X2=71.64, p< 0.001), but did not
show less complications of nephropathy (Indian suffered
significantly more nephropathy, Chi-square: X2=168.76, p<
0.001), ischaemic heart disease (Chi-square: X2=5.67, p = 0.532)
and stroke (Chi-square: X2=15.38, p = 0.078).
Conclusion: This study has again emphasized the existence of
ethnic differences in glycaemic control and complication
profiles. The Chinese diabetics suffer as many diabetesrelated
complications despite better glycaemic control.
Further studies will need to look into other socio-genetic
factors in order to provide a more personalized effective
diabetes care.