Delayed type 2 diabetes treatment prevents tighter glycemic control, a new report suggests.

Researchers at the University of Leicester have released worrying figures with regards to the average time people with type 2 diabetes have to wait in-between treatments.
The study, carried out by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care East Midlands (CLAHRC), shows that the average waiting time for patients who need further treatment after beginning insulin therapy is 3.7 years later.
Research data was collected on 11,696 patients – from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink database – between January 2004 and December 2011, with follow-up conducted until December 2013.
The CLAHRC found that, of the total number of participants, only a third of those that needed further medication obtained it promptly.
Patients undergoing therapy who were deemed clinically eligible for treatment intensification at the time of conversion had an HbA1c equal or greater than 7.5%.
Among those 36.5 per cent of patients that received appropriate follow-up, 7.4 per cent had their treatment intensified successfully with bolus, premix insulin or glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists.
Risks factors that made patients susceptible to increasing delays for second-line treatments included age, duration of diabetes, oral antihyperglycemic agent usage and Charlson comorbidity index scores, which may affect survival and choice of medication.
A lack of sufficient follow-up medical care for patients with type 2 diabetes can lead to serious long-term related complications, previous evidence in the Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism Journal has shown.
The meta-analysis of four large cardiovascular outcome trials in type 2 diabetes presented in a 2015 Cardiovascular Diabetology study has for example revealed that tight glycemic control was associated with nine per cent reduction in risk of major cardiovascular events.