Moderate treatment

Study: Only 13% of diabetics “in the green zone”

Around 800,000 people in Austria suffer from diabetes, 85 to 90 percent of whom have type 2 diabetes.

(Bild: tashatuvango/stock.adobe.com)

An Austrian study on the quality of medical care for type 2 diabetics (formerly known as "adult-onset diabetes") has produced worrying results regarding the quality of care. Only around half of the patients receiving care had the recommended blood sugar, LDL cholesterol and blood pressure values. Only 13 percent were "in the green" for all three problem areas combined.

A total of 8080 general practitioners and diabetologists from all over Austria were invited to take part in the "Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism "* study. 62 doctors took part. They included ten to 15 people each with and without type 2 diabetes.

In the end, there were 635 diabetics in the sample. The average age was 66.7 years. The average duration of diabetes was ten years and the body mass index was 29 (slightly below obesity).

Around 800,000 people in Austria suffer from diabetes, 85 to 90 percent of them with type 2 diabetes. The annual number of deaths due to diabetes exceeds those caused by breast cancer, colon cancer and traffic accidents.

Die Studienautoren

800,000 people affected in Austria
"Diabetes places an enormous burden on healthcare systems and causes healthcare expenditure of around 760 billion euros worldwide and three billion euros (per year; note) in Austria," say the authors. It is above all cardiovascular diseases that occur much earlier and much more frequently in type 2 diabetics than in non-diabetics as complications with potentially life-threatening consequences.

For this reason, blood sugar control should be as good as possible and the risk factors for cardiovascular disease should be under control. However, this is "miles away":

• "The percentages of participants achieving LDL-C, HbA1c, blood pressure and all target values were 44 percent (LDL cholesterol; note), 53 percent (less HbA1c of seven percent; note) and 57 percent (blood pressure less than 140/90 mmHg; note) and 13 percent (achieving all three targets; note), respectively.
• Older age, longer duration of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and microvascular complications (diseases of the small blood vessels; note) were associated with suboptimal achievement of the target values for metabolic risk factors."

Around 800,000 people in Austria suffer from diabetes, 85 to 90 percent of whom have type 2 diabetes.

(Bild: tashatuvango/stock.adobe.com)

*Harald Sourij from the Metabolic Medicine Study Unit at MedUni Graz and, as co-authors, for example the current President of the Austrian Diabetes Society (ÖDG), Peter Fasching (Vienna), and the other co-authors conducted an Austria-wide cross-sectional study (AUSTRO-PROFIT) between 2021 and 2023. This was a study with data from general practice medicine (general practitioners, diabetologists), i.e. in primary care.