Monday, February 20, 2012

From George Washington U: Diabetes scorecard not helpful

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22332914

Diabet Med. 2012 Feb 14. doi: 10.1111/j.1464-5491.2012.03610.x. [Epub ahead of print]
A diabetes scorecard does not improve HbA(1c) , blood pressure, lipids, aspirin usage, exercise and diabetes knowledge over 9 months: a randomized controlled trial.
Irwig MS, Sood P, Ni D, Amass T, Khurana PS, Jayanthi VV, Wang L, Myers Adler S.
Source
Department of Medicine Department of Statistics, George Washington University, Washington DC, USA.

Abstract
Aims 
To test (1) whether a diabetes scorecard can improve glycaemic control, blood pressure control, LDL cholesterol, aspirin usage and exercise; (2) if the scorecard will motivate and/or educate patients to improve their scores for subsequent visits; and (3) whether the scorecard will improve rates of clinical inertia.

Methods 
Five physicians enrolled 103 patients ≥ 40 years old with uncontrolled Type 2 diabetes [HbA(1c) ≥ 64 mmol/mol (8.0%)] to randomly receive either a diabetes scorecard or not during four clinical visits over a 9-month period. The population was predominantly urban with a disproportionately higher percentage of black people than the general population. Our scorecard assigned points to six clinical variables, with a perfect total score of 100 points corresponding to meeting all targets. The primary outcomes were total scores and HbA(1c) in the scorecard and control groups at 9 months.

Results 
There were no significant differences between the control and scorecard groups at visits 1 and 4 in total score, HbA(1c) , blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, aspirin usage, exercise or knowledge about diabetic targets. By visit 4 both the control and scorecard groups had statistically significant improvements with their mean total score (9 and 7 points, respectively), HbA(1c) [XX mmol/mol (-0.8%) and XX mmol/mol (-1.4%), respectively] and aspirin usage (33% increase and 16% increase, respectively). Rates of clinical inertia were low throughout the study.

Conclusions 
A diabetes scorecard did not improve glycaemic control, blood pressure control, LDL cholesterol, aspirin usage, exercise or diabetic knowledge in an urban population with uncontrolled Type 2 diabetes.

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