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Primary care management of diabetes mellitus in five european countries.

Donker, G., Fleming, D., Schellevis, F., Spreeuwenberg, P. Primary care management of diabetes mellitus in five european countries. In: J.Kersnik; K. Keber; I. Svab; D. Rotar-Pavlic; T. Poplas-Susic; N. Kopcavar-Gucek; D. Klancic. WONCA 2003 Regional Conference book of abstracts and conference programme. Ljubljana: Zbirka PiP, 2003. p. 256.
Aim: To compare management of DM in general practice in five European countries in order to assess whether differences in management of DM can be related to differences in national guidelines for general practitoners (GPs) and to differences in health care system. Design: Retrospective study in general practice during a 12 months period (1999/2000). Method: Routine monitoring of patients percenting with DM to GPs in established sentinel practice surveillance networks in five European countries (Belgium, Croatia, England, Spain and the Netherlands). Result were stratified by age and country. Results: The proportion of patients treated by: diet only vary from 13% (The Netherlands)
to 25% (Spain); diet and oral antidiabetics from 51% (UK) to 62% (Belgium); a combination of diet and insulin varied from 15% (Belgium and Croatia) to 26% (The Netherlands); a combination of diet, oral antidiabetics and insulin less than 10 % in all countries. In the older age groups insulin is prescribed most frequently in The Netherlands. Spain and Croatia show high consultation rates for DM; UK and The Netherlands low rates. Referral percentages vary considerably between countries (highest in Croatia). (aut. ref.)