PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Stephen J. Spann
AU  - Paul A. Nutting
AU  - James M. Galliher
AU  - Kevin A. Peterson
AU  - Valory N. Pavlik
AU  - L. Miriam Dickinson
AU  - Robert J. Volk
TI  - Management of Type 2 Diabetes in the Primary Care Setting: A Practice-Based Research Network Study
AID  - 10.1370/afm.420
DP  - 2006 Jan 01
TA  - The Annals of Family Medicine
PG  - 23--31
VI  - 4
IP  - 1
4099  - http://www.annfammed.org/content/4/1/23.short
4100  - http://www.annfammed.org/content/4/1/23.full
SO  - Ann Fam Med2006 Jan 01; 4
AB  - PURPOSE We wanted to describe how primary care clinicians care for patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS We undertook a cross-sectional study of 95 primary care clinicians and 822 of their established patients with type 2 diabetes from 4 practice-based, primary care research networks in the United States. Clinicians were surveyed about their training and practice. Patients completed a self-administered questionnaire about their care, and medical records were reviewed for complications, treatment, and diabetes-control indicators. RESULTS Participating clinicians (average age, 45.7 years) saw an average of 32.6 adult patients with diabetes per month. Patients (average age, 59.7 years) reported a mean duration of diabetes of 9.1 years, with 34.3% having had the disease more than 10 years. Nearly one half (47.5%) of the patients had at least 1 diabetes-related complication, and 60.8% reported a body mass index greater than 30. Mean glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level was 7.6% (SD 1.73), and 40.5% of patients had values <7%. Only 35.3% of patients had adequate blood pressure control (<130/85 mm Hg), and only 43.7% had low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels <100 mg/dL. Only 7.0% of patients met all 3 control targets. Multilevel models showed that patient ethnicity, practice type, involvement of midlevel clinicians, and treatment were associated with HbA1c level; patient age, education level, and practice type were associated with blood pressure control; and patient ethnicity was associated with LDL-C control. CONCLUSIONS Only modest numbers of patients achieve established targets of diabetes control. Reengineering primary care practice may be necessary to substantially improve care.