Use of electronic health records for the management of diabetes and its risk factors in the Principality of Asturias from 2014 to 2018

Background In recent years, the implementation of electronic health records across all hospitals and primary care centres within the National Health System has significantly enhanced access to patients’ clinical data. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in primary care settings and to outline its associated cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) and epidemiological characteristics. Methods An observational cross-sectional study was conducted including 89,679 patients diagnosed with T2DM who attended the primary health care system from 2014 to 2018. Data was provided by the Primary Health Care System of the Principality of Asturias (SESPA). Results The estimated prevalence of diagnosed T2DM was 8.01% (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 7.96–8.06) of the total population. Additionally, it was more prevalent in males compared to females (9.90% [95% CI: 9.81–9.99] vs. 6.50% [95% CI: 6.44–6.57]) and increased with age in both sexes. People with T2DM had an average age of 74 years, 52.3% were male, and the most frequently associated CVRF were: dyslipidaemia (47.90%) and hypertension (62.20%). Glycaemic control improved during the 2014–2018 period (31.69%), as did lipid control (23.66%). However, the improvement in blood pressure control (9.34%) was less pronounced for the same period. Regarding the multifactorial control of diabetes (measured by LDL-cholesterol, HbA1C and blood pressure) the overall degree of control improved by 11.55% between 2014 and 2018. Conclusion In this 5-year retrospective population-based study, the utilisation of data from electronic medical records provides insights into the prevalence of T2DM in a large population, as well as real-time CVRFs. Leveraging this data facilitates the development of targeted health policies.