How Many Diabetics Are Meeting Their Disease-Control Goals?

The wellbeing of more and more people is becoming affected by diabetes, but according to a new study, once they have the disease, people are better at controlling it than ever. A study in America found that diabetics are, more than ever, meeting three goals vital for control of their disease, which could lower their wellness risk of diabetes-related complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness and amputations.

There are three ABCs of diabetes control: A1C (a measure of blood glucose, or sugar, over two to three months), blood pressure and cholesterol. According to expert recommendations, your A1C should be less than 7%; your blood pressure reading under 130/80 mmHg; and your ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol reading less than 100 mg/dL. According to the study results, whereas only 2% of Americans met or exceeded these goals in 1988, this number increased to nearly 19% in 2010.

For the study, researchers from the National Institutes of Health and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention used data from a federal program of studies that regularly assesses the health and nutritional status of Americans. The researchers analysed these National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) from 1988 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2010.

The results were that there was a 10% increase of Americans who met A1C goals from 2007 to 2010 (53%), compared with 43% from 1988 to 1994. 33% of the 90s group met blood pressure goals, and only 10% met the goals for cholesterol, which rose to 51% and 56% respectively in the 2007-2010 group. This latter improvement, researchers surmised, could be due to a dramatic increase in statin use, as the study found that 51.4% percent of adults with diabetes now take the cholesterol-lowering drugs, compared with 4.2% from 1988 to 1994.

Though improvements in medications, lifestyle behaviours and diabetes and obesity awareness possibly led to this improvement in diabetes control, the researchers warn, ‘our data also show that there is much room for improvement. As the US population ages and diabetes prevalence increases, it becomes increasingly urgent to find ways to overcome barriers to good diabetes management and deliver affordable, quality care so those with diabetes can live a longer and healthier life without serious diabetes complications.’