Impact of clinic follow-up visits on body weight control in people with prediabetes or diabetes mellitus: Japanese nonelderly cohort study

Abstract

Background. Body weight control is considered essential for the management of diabetes mellitus. Clinicians have an important role in educating and guiding patients with diabetes to control their body weight. The aim of the present study was to clarify if clinic visits influenced body weight control of people with prediabetes or diabetes mellitus. Objective. To examine whether individuals with diabetes mellitus who visit clinics show better weight control. Method. We used a large Japanese database (Japan Medical Data Center, Tokyo, Japan) of screening for lifestyle disease linked with administrative claim data to retrospectively identify people with prediabetes or diabetes mellitus based on their fasting plasma glucose and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) concentration. We collected data on their baseline characteristics (including age, sex, body mass index and disease history) and their lifestyles. We used propensity-score inverse probability of treatment weighted generalized estimating equations to examine the association between clinic visits and change in body mass index. Results. Between 2013 and 2014, we identified 11 004 individuals with prediabetes or diabetes. The proportions visiting clinics after the first diagnosis made at screening was 27.8%. Clinic visit was significantly associated with lower body mass index after adjustment for baseline patient characteristics a year after first screening (-0.17 kg/m2; 95% confidence interval, -0.22 to -0.12). Conclusion. In Japanese people found to have prediabetes or diabetes during an annual health screen, those who visited clinics after their first diagnosis were likely to have better body weight control.