Optimizing Type II diabetes management: Evaluating the role of combined therapies and patient compliance

Background: Type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a significant health challenge in China, with varying treatment approaches including pharmacological interventions, lifestyle modifications, or their combination. The relative effectiveness of these treatment modalities in real-world clinical settings remains incompletely understood.
Objective: To evaluate the comparative effectiveness of pharmacological treatments alone, lifestyle interventions alone, and combined therapy in controlling blood glucose levels among T2DM patients at a hospital in Henan ,China.
Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from 181 T2DM patients, categorized into three treatment groups: pharmacological therapy alone (n=47), lifestyle interventions alone (n=52), and combined therapy (n=82). The primary outcome was glycemic control measured by HbA1c levels. One-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey's tests was used for analysis, supplemented by Bayesian regression to assess socioeconomic influences.
Results: Combined therapy showed significantly better glycemic control (mean HbA1c=7.12%) compared to lifestyle interventions alone (mean HbA1c=8.02%, p=0.001), while the difference from pharmacological therapy alone (mean HbA1c=7.43%, p=0.27) was not statistically significant. Combined therapy achieved the highest treatment adherence rate (45.3%) compared to lifestyle interventions (28.7%) and pharmacological therapy (26.0%). Socioeconomic barriers significantly moderated treatment effectiveness (Posterior Mean = -0.25, 95% CI: [-0.41, -0.09]).
Conclusions: Combined pharmacological and lifestyle interventions demonstrated superior effectiveness in glycemic control compared to single-modality approaches. These findings support an integrated approach to T2DM management while highlighting the importance of addressing socioeconomic barriers to treatment adherence.