Primary care service consumption among older individuals with and without type 2 diabetes was compared in this study. Patients over the age of 65 who had been diagnosed with diabetes were uncovered by searching electronic patient data. Researchers took out 2 healthy people of the same age and gender as each diabetic to serve as comparisons. About 527 people with diabetes and 890 healthy individuals were sent a health questionnaire in the mail. A total of 518 respondents were chosen at random to take part in the health checkup as a result of their questionnaire responses. There were a total of 187 people with diabetes and 176 people without diabetes among the study population. Primary care utilization data was culled from computerized patient records 2 years prior to and 2 years following the health checkup. Before the onset of the study, the patients with diabetes had more doctor’s appointments (P<0.001), nurse’s appointments (<0.001), and laboratory tests taken (P<0.001) than those without diabetes Patients with type 2 diabetes were more likely to have doctor’s visits (P=0.002), nurse’s visits (P=0.006), laboratory testing (P=0.006), and inpatient care at the local hospital (P=0.004) after a year of follow-up. Patients with diabetes were more likely to visit a community hospital (ratio 2.50; 95% Cl 1.16-5.36) than those without diabetes (ratio 0.91; 95% Cl 0.40.2.06). There was an increase in the frequency of visits to the nurse for individuals who did not have diabetes (ratio 1.31; 95% Cl 1.07-1.60) but not for those who did have diabetes (ratio 1.04; 95% Cl 0.88-1.24). Those who have diabetes see doctors and nurses more frequently than those who do not. People with diabetes were more likely to seek treatment in community hospitals during the follow-up period of 1 year. These findings highlighted the significance of diabetes in planning community-based health care services outside the scope of diabetes prevention and management.
Source: bmcprimcare.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12875-022-01844-2
