"The most impressive finding was the significant improvement in diabetes management over time across all groups," said the study's senior author, Catherine Cowie, director of the Diabetes Epidemiology at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) in an NIH press release. "However, we see a lot of room for improvement for everyone, but particularly for younger people and some minority groups."
Data on the ABCs, A1C, blood pressure, and LDL cholesterol was compared from 1988-1994 and 2007-2010 and improvements were found in all three parameters: A1C control increased from 43.1 percent to 52.5 percent, blood pressure control increased from 33.2 percent to 51.1 percent and LDL cholesterol control increased from 9.9 percent to 51.4 percent.
However, despite this improvements, 81.2 percent of patients did not meet all three goals.
The authors feel that the gains were made due to advances in glycemic control, hypertension, and lipid management. The large improvement in LDL cholesterol control is likely because of the availability and increased use of statins.
For the researchers, they found it particularly interesting that "younger people with diabetes were less likely to meet A1C and LDL goals and showed smaller improvements in meeting each ABC goal." They concluded: "As the US population ages and diabetes prevalence increases, it becomes increasingly urgent to find ways to overcome barriers to good diabetes management and deliver affordable, quality care so those with diabetes can live a longer and healthier life without serious diabetes complications."
Reference: Forbes
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