## 1 Introduction  
The rise in life expectancy in the past 50 years and the subsequent aging of the population has increased the prevalence of chronic diseases [1]. In particular, the prevalence of type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2 DM) has almost doubled since 1980 [2]. Moreover, persons experiencing this disease frequently present comorbidities and complications [3]. In a scenario where cities are growing and smart cities are emerging, T2 DM is a public health problem that highlights the importance of a holistic, scalable, and human-centered view for smart city services [4]. The large amount of information that is available in electronic clinical records (ECR) have made it possible to apply data science with the aim of positively impacting society [5]. Research can therefore focus on concepts such as continuity of care (COC) and multidisciplinary from a data analysis viewpoint, to enable decision-making that may impact a large segment of the affected population. Continuity of care, understood as the extent to which medical care services are received as a coordinated and uninterrupted succession of events that are consistent with the medical care needs of patients [6] has been associated with improved clinical results in patients with chronic diseases [7; 8]. Research shows a relationship between COC and greater patient satisfaction [9], falling hospitalization rates and emergency department visits [10; 11; 12; 13], and a reduction in mortality [8]. In the case of diabetes, continuity is particularly important [14; 15; 16], with evidence showing the relationship between low continuity and poor glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) control, and high continuity and positive control of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) [17]. Research highlights the importance of incorporating other professionals within T2 DM treatment teams [3]. Multidisciplinary teams achieve improved outcomes in HbA1c, plasma glucose, LDL-C, cardiovascular disease risk, microvascular complications, and mortality [18; 19; 20; 21]. In primary care, patients with diabetes are mainly treated by multidisciplinary teams, composed usually of a doctor-nurse duo that works with the support of a dietitian and other specialists [22]. The literature shows that collaborative teams for the treatment of diabetes are commonly led by a general practitioner or a family physician, while nurses perform the role of case manager. The nurses' role is particularly important, because, beside maintaining team coordination, they manage the patient treatment schedule, track patient progress, provide counselling to patients, encourage adherence to treatments, promote self-management and preventive care, and make referrals to specialists when required [23; 24]. Collaborative teams in diabetes care are based on direct and face-to-face communication between members, and have the distinctive feature of not having a clinical leader, which results in continuous horizontal collaboration [22]. Although previous research highlights the importance of other disciplines, their continuity has not yet been investigated in detail [10; 25; 26], rather focusing on the continuity of the physician or the team of physicians. However, some patients may be treated mostly by other professionals (e.g., nurses), and lacking continuity even in more sporadic visits (e.g., to dietititians) may be detrimental to treatment. This study aims to understand whether the characteristics of other professionals' continuity have similar characteristics to physicians' continuity. The continuity of care of physicians and its relationship with clinical outcomes in diabetic patients has been widely studied. Previous research has also emphasized the importance of the participation of nurses and dietitians in the treatment of diabetic patients. However, the COC of these two other disciplines has not been studied in detail. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify whether there is a relationship between the continuity of these three disciplines (physicians, nurses, and dietitians) and the metabolic control of patients.