NIH study shows big improvement in diabetes control over past decades

[Northerner]

More people are meeting recommended goals in the three key markers of diabetes control, according to a study conducted and funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report, published online February 15 in Diabetes Care, shows that, from 1988 to 2010, the number of people with diabetes able to meet or exceed all three of the measures that demonstrate good diabetes management rose from about 2 percent to about 19 percent. Each measure also showed substantial improvement, with over half of people meeting each individual goal in 2010.

The measures are A1C ? which assesses blood sugar (glucose) over the previous three months ? blood pressure and cholesterol. They are often called the ABCs of diabetes. When these measures fall outside healthy ranges, people are more likely to be burdened by complications of diabetes, including heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and amputation.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/niod-nss021213.php

 

[trophywench]

Hurrah.

Is it time to change all the worn out predictions of when all our legs will drop off??

 

[Northerner]

Hurrah.

Is it time to change all the worn out predictions of when all our legs will drop off??

Only when people start getting better preventative care so they don't go past the stage where the only option is an operation 🙂 At least the behemoth appears to be moving in that direction.

 

[LeeLee]

I see that this is a US study, so presumably excludes people without insurance or funds to pay for their tests, drugs, etc. It would be interesting to see the equivalent figures for the UK where the whole polulation is covered (or at least the diabetics who know they are).

 

[trophywench]

The postive point about research done in the US, LeeLee, is the fact that the 'samples' are so large and they have a wide spread of ethnicity.

I mean they do spot things elsewhere, for instance a lot of hype over the South Asian diabetics in the UK, because we do have quite a lot of S Asians LOL and they are spread about the country pretty well most places so most research populations will have enough of them to show if there's any difference between them and the 'white British'*. OTOH if you wanted to specifically study (say) those of Italian descent in UK, you might have to concentrate on eg Bedford and Thetford.

I get annoyed when they use 25 year old (or older) research in large populations in either China or Japan and try to apply em to 'me'.

* How much - eg Viking - blood have any of those people got running in their veins? My ancestors way back may well have eaten rather a lot of herring, but their staple diet wasn't based on rice, was it? At least, I've never seen a picture of a Scandinavian paddy field ......