Evidence mapPaperPMID 33035261Full record

ArticlePloS one2020

Clinical inertia in type 2 diabetes management in a middle-income country: A retrospective cohort study.

Kim Sui Wan, Foong Ming Moy, Khalijah Mohd Yusof, Feisul Idzwan Mustapha, Zainudin Mohd Ali, Noran Naqiah Hairi

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
14citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
1.3field-weighted citation impact, top 18% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Hypertension in Adults With Diabetes in Southeast Asia: A Systematic Review.Journal of clinical hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.) · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Kim Sui WanCentre for Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Practice, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.ORCID 0000-0002-0859-1648
Foong Ming MoyCentre for Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Practice, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Khalijah Mohd YusofState Health Department of Negeri Sembilan, Seremban, Malaysia.
Feisul Idzwan MustaphaDisease Control Division, Ministry of Health, Putrajaya, Malaysia.ORCID 0000-0003-3497-341X
Zainudin Mohd AliState Health Department of Negeri Sembilan, Seremban, Malaysia.
Noran Naqiah HairiCentre for Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Practice, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
University of Malaya · MYMalaysia Theological Seminary · MYMinistry of Health · MY

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundClinical inertia can lead to poor glycemic control among type 2 diabetes patients. However, there is paucity of information on clinical inertia in low- and middle-income countries including Malaysia. This study aimed to determine the time to treatment intensification among T2D patients with HbA1c of ≥7% (≥53 mmol/mol) in Malaysian public health clinics. The proportion of patients with treatment intensification and its associated factors were also determined. MATERIAL AND

methodsThis was a five-year retrospective open cohort study using secondary data from the National Diabetes Registry. The study setting was all public health clinics (n = 47) in the state of Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Time to treatment intensification was defined as the number of years from the index year until the addition of another oral antidiabetic drug or initiation of insulin. Life table survival analysis based on best-worst case scenarios was used to determine the time to treatment intensification. Discrete-time proportional hazards model was fitted for the factors associated with treatment intensification.

resultsThe mean follow-up duration was 2.6 (SD 1.1) years. Of 7,646 patients, the median time to treatment intensification was 1.29 years (15.5 months), 1.58 years (19.0 months) and 2.32 years (27.8 months) under the best-, average- and worst-case scenarios respectively. The proportion of patients with treatment intensification was 45.4% (95% CI: 44.2-46.5), of which 34.6% occurred only after one year. Younger adults, overweight, obesity, use of antiplatelet medications and poorer HbA1c were positively associated with treatment intensification. Patients treated with more oral antidiabetics were less likely to have treatment intensification.

conclusionClinical inertia is present in the management of T2D patients in Malaysian public health clinics. We recommend further studies in lower- and middle-income countries to explore its causes so that targeted strategies can be developed to address this issue.

Indexed as

Developing CountriesDiabetes Mellitus, Type 2Administration, OralAdultAgedDrug Therapy, CombinationFemaleGlycated HemoglobinHumansHypoglycemic AgentsMalaysiaMaleMiddle AgedRetrospective StudiesTime-to-TreatmentGlycated Hemoglobinhemoglobin A1c protein, humanHypoglycemic Agents

Identifiers

PMID33035261
PMCPMC7546487
OpenAlexW3092248866

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.