Managing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus through Periodical Hospital Visits in the Aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster: A Retrospective Case Series

AIMS To assess the impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster on daily diabetes practice and to determine the feasibility of controlling type 2 diabetes mellitus in an outpatient department. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed the data on disaster-affected patients with type 2 diabetes who periodically attended outpatient department of Soma Central Hospital. There were 767 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in total. The primary outcome measure was the change in HbA1c. RESULTS HbA1c levels of 58 patients with periodical hospital visits did not deteriorate after the disasters. Moreover, there observed no significant difference in the mean of HbA1c levels among all age and sex throughout the year. While several changes in diabetes medication usage occurred, DPP4-inhibitor was the only oral diabetic agent that increased in frequency (+60%). CONCLUSIONS Patients with type 2 diabetes who were managed with periodical hospital visits did not show significant deterioration in HbA1c levels.