KEY POINTS:
Control of blood sugar levels in Maori and Pacific diabetics showed little improvement in two years, despite their participation in the national "Get Checked" programme, a new study has found.
Auckland University researchers evaluated clinical measures two years apart for nearly 8000 people on the programme, under which diabetics can have a state-funded medical check and care-planning session once a year.
Nearly half of Maori patients and 69 per cent of Pacific patients had poor glycaemic (blood-sugar-level) control at the start of the study period "and only small improvements were made over the two years," the researchers report in the journal Primary Care Diabetes.
"Significant improvements were made in blood pressure and lipid management at two-year follow-up." The authors suggest this may be due more to the removal of restrictions in 2002 on the use of cholesterol-lowering "statin" drugs and the introduction of diabetes management guidelines the following year, than to participation in Get Checked.
It is estimated that 160,000 people in New Zealand have diabetes.
Otago University diabetes specialist Professor Jim Mann said yesterday the findings reflected earlier Otago research, which indicated that unless the lifestyle factors leading to excess bodyweight were addressed as well as giving patients medicines to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, "you weren't really a winner".
Highlighting the study, Diabetes and Obesity Research Review, run by Wellington diabetes specialist Dr Jeremy Krebs, says Get Checked has been a "great introduction to the management of patients with diabetes in primary care in New Zealand.
"However, there have been questions asked about the impact it has had on patient outcomes."
The aim of Get Checked, introduced in 2000, is to minimise the impact of diabetes and its complications - like kidney failure, blindness and limb amputations - by improving management of the disease and screening for related problems.
In 2006, only 64 per cent of the estimated number of those with diabetes - health authorities do no know the actual number - took advantage of Get Checked. This increased to 69 per cent in the last financial year.
In June, following a review of Get Checked, the Office of the Auditor-General said that although the scheme had improved, the office had a number of concerns, including that there was insufficient monitoring to ensure the quality and consistency of the treatment plans made with patients.
"Data ... indicates that people are generally not making lifestyle changes or may not be being given the appropriate support or treatment. Better monitoring and audit of the quality of treatment plans and the support provided to patients would help ensure that the plans fulfil their key role."
