Glycemic Control Has Improved Recently
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| Tue, 01-15-2008 - 5:14pm |
Glycemic Control Has Improved Recently Among U.S. Diabetics
Reuters Health Information 2008. © 2008 Reuters Ltd.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 09 - The percentage of U.S. adults with diabetes who had an glycosylated hemoglobin (A1C) level less than 7% increased during the period 1999-2004, according to findings published in the January issue of Diabetes Care.
Dr. Earl S. Ford, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, and colleagues examined trends in glycemic control among U.S. adults with diabetes using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999 to 2004. Overall, 1334 subjects with diagnosed diabetes had a measurement of A1C.
The geometric mean concentration of A1C was significantly lower in 2003-2004 than in 1999-2000. There was a significant increase in the unadjusted percentage of diabetic participants who had values of A1C less than 7%, from 37.0% in 1999-2000 to 56.8% in 2003-2004. Adjustment for a number of factors did not affect these percentages.
Glycemic control was similar in men and women during the study period. However, better control was observed in white participants compared to African-American (p = 0.001) or Mexican-American (p < 0.001) participants.
"As welcome as the recent favorable tends in glycemic control are," Dr. Ford and colleagues conclude, "additional efforts are needed to help the approximately 40% of patients with diabetes who do not have adequate glycemic control."
Diabetes Care 2008;31:102-104.






