HEALTHType 2 diabetes requires multilevel carePrimary care physicians are often the main line of defense protecting patients with diabetes from major complications. It's a tough job.By Susan J. Landers, amednews staff. June 23, 2003. Washington -- Uncontrolled diabetes. It's a problem often more complicated than single solutions or interventions can resolve. For instance, it can take a team effort, plus judicious use of the newest generation of insulin, to bring the blood sugar levels of many of these patients under control, said physicians participating in a June 3 briefing at the New York Academy of Science. Active patient participation and counseling and education programs are key to bringing blood sugar levels to 7% or less as measured by the hemoglobin A1c test, said Scott Nelson, MD, a family physician from Cleveland, Miss. "Diabetes is becoming a progressive problem," he said, and the solutions devised in the Mississippi Delta may foreshadow what will happen in the rest of the United States. Mississippi is now in hot competition with Alabama for the dubious distinction of being the state with the highest prevalence of diabetes. As many as one in five of Mississippi's Sunflower County's 40,000 residents may have diabetes, said Dr. Nelson. "We've got dietary problems," he noted. Fried food and heavily sweetened tea help boost the diabetes rate. Obesity levels are also high. Meanwhile, across the nation, diabetes affects about 17 million adults with another 6 million undiagnosed. And despite the vastly increased numbers of medicines and other management tools, nearly half of individuals diagnosed continue to live with uncontrolled diabetes, placing them at risk for the usual long-term serious consequences, including blindness, kidney failure, amputations and cardiovascular disease. [...]Full text of American Medical News content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2003 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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The doctors are in the house
The AMA's House of Delegates is holding its Interim Meeting Nov. 7-10 in Houston, addressing issues such as health system reform and physician payment. Meeting coverage - Slideshow Feature articlesHealth reform review The Massachusetts experience Litigation stress Being sued is personal as well as professional Comprehensive coverage
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