Prevalence and co-prevalence of comorbidities in Belgian patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a transversal, descriptive study

Objectives: Most patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have at least one comorbid chronic disease. These comorbidities increase disease burden and costs and may impact the selection of glucose-lowering therapies. The aim of our study was to describe the prevalence and co-prevalence of comorbidities in patients with T2DM in Belgium. Methods: This was a single centre, transversal, descriptive study performed at Saint-Luc University Hospital, Brussels, Belgium. T2DM patients aged >18 years presenting to the outpatient diabetes clinic and regularly followed (>= 1 year) between July 2011 and 2016 were included in the database. Information on descriptive characteristics was collected and several comorbidities were assessed. Results: Overall, 778 patients were included. The median age was 68 years. The most frequently observed comorbidities were hypertension (85.5%), metabolic syndrome (MetS; 84.6%) and non-alcoholic hepatic steatosis (71.7%). 78.5% of the T2DM patients had >= 4 comorbidities. The highest co-prevalence of comorbidities was the combination of MetS and hypertension (75.8%), MetS and overweight (60.5%), and hypertension and overweight (56.6%). Conclusion: The observed prevalence and co-prevalence of comorbidities in T2DM Belgian patients was high, with 95.0% patients having at least two comorbid conditions.