The role of pharmacists in evaluating and intervening the patients with diabetic neuropathy

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence and risk factors for diabetic peripheral neuropathy, to evaluate the score of neuropathy, and to determine the effect of pharmacist intervention toward diabetic neuropathy (DN) patients at Gatot Soebroto Hospital, Jakarta, in 2013. Methods: An analytic research was conducted using cross-sectional approach to find out the effect of pharmacist intervention toward DN risk factors and prevalence. Toronto clinical scoring system was used to score the symptoms and physical examination results. Data about sociodemographic characters, age, duration of diabetic, blood glucose, blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, lifestyle, body mass index (BMI), and smoking were collected. Pharmacist intervention was given to increase patient information about DN and its risks factors. Results: There were 59 respondents involved in this study. It can be found that 15.3% respondents had mild diabetic peripheral neuropathy, 1.7% had moderate diabetic peripheral neuropathy, 1.7% had severe diabetic peripheral neuropathy, and as much as 81,4% respondents had no neuropathy. There was a correlation (but not statistically significant) between diabetic peripheral neuropathy and its’ risks factors such as ages, duration of diabetes, sex, cardiovascular disease (hypertension and cardiac disease), and lifestyle (smoking habit and BMI). Conclusion: Pharmacist intervention showed an increase on the patient’s knowledge about DN and also a significant decrease on the patient’s blood glucose level (p˂0.05).