Issue 131 Item 10 More Diabetics Receiving Preventive Care to Ward off Complicat

According to researchers with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over the past few years, a growing number of patients with diabetes have adopted routine measures to prevent complications. Nilka Rios Burrows of the CDC said that “things have improved since 1995, however, we are still short of our goals, and we need to continue promoting preventive care."

The investigators base their findings on telephone surveys of randomly chosen adults, conducted in 1995 and 2001. During the surveys, respondents were asked if they had ever been diagnosed with diabetes, and how often they receive eye and foot exams, the last time they were given vaccines to prevent flu and pneumonia, and whether they check their blood glucose levels every day.

Comparing the two years, the researchers found that a higher percentage of diabetics are now opting for preventive measures to control their diabetes, such as annual eye and foot exams. The increase in these annual exams appeared most significant among men and older age groups, according to the findings published in the November 1st issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

More diabetics of all ages also appear to be checking their blood glucose levels daily, and are scheduling yearly vaccines to prevent flu and pneumonia.

Despite these advances, however, the number of diabetics adopting each of these preventive techniques is below the goals set by health officials for 2010.

Burrows explained that the study did not determine why more diabetics are adopting preventive care methods, but she suggested that these improvements may be due to ongoing public and private efforts to educate patients about their role in maintaining their health.

Clearly, further efforts are needed to meet the 2010 goals, she noted, and experts need to continue their "full-court press" to get the word out to patients and physicians.

MMWR 2002;51:965-969.