dQ&A was honored to participate in the 2019 ADA Scientific Sessions with five posters and an abstract highlighting our work.
Our research covered adjunct therapies to insulin, therapeutic inertia in type 2 diabetes, and automated insulin delivery systems (closed loop). We interviewed both patients and providers, and conducted qualitative and quantitative studies – including discrete choice conjoint analysis and hierarchical multiple regression analysis.
In this article, we’ll highlight two of the posters, which were led and sponsored by diaTribe, a nonprofit helping people with diabetes (and a sister organization to dQ&A). For more information about diaTribe and their educational and advocacy work, see diaTribe.org.
In both cases, dQ&A was commissioned to undertake research work on behalf of diaTribe, and the first poster was written in conjunction with Close Concerns, St. Luke’s Heart Institute and the University of Washington.
Patients Suggest Need for Cardiovascular Health Education
It’s well known that people with diabetes have an elevated risk of cardiovascular (CV) disease, often quoted as 2-3 times that of the healthy population. Nevertheless, dQ&A research shows that CV risk is rarely discussed in appointments with diabetes specialists, the burden falling to primary care physicians. Unfortunately, 37% of our sample of nearly 1,000 people with type 2 diabetes had not discussed CV risk with any healthcare provider in the last year, and over half of primary care interactions did not feature any discussion of risk. Despite this, two-thirds of respondents said they would take an additional diabetes drug if it also offered protection against CV disease, which roughly aligned with awareness of these drugs. So it seems clear that there is an unmet need for CV risk education and also for increased use of SGLT-2 and GLP-1 therapies.
Link to poster: Insights from Type 2 Diabetes Patients Suggest Need for Cardiovascular Health Education
Healthcare Providers Struggling to Stay Up To Date
Most people with diabetes are not treated by specialists, so dQ&A surveyed 80 primary care physicians, 73 nurse practitioners, 70 physicians’ assistants and 63 certified diabetes educators (CDEs) to find out how comfortable they are in delivering diabetes care and how they stay current with diabetes. Although most were comfortable that they have the resources to deliver first and second line therapy and insulin, their comfort drops off rapidly (with the exception of CDEs) for pumps and CGM. A majority of HCPs are spending 5-10 hours per month staying up to date on new developments and nearly half of CDEs spend at least 10 hours per month. The findings also suggest that there is insufficient HCP education in diabetes care, a lack of confidence in the resources available to support HCPs in helping patients manage diabetes, and difficulty keeping up with the latest developments, all of which may be contributing to poorer outcomes for people with diabetes.
Link to poster: HCP Information: Drowning in Resources, Lacking Confidence?
dQ&A would like to express its sincere gratitude to all of the community members who participated in its research studies, and who teach us every day how to do our job better.
Please contact dQ&A’s CEO Richard Wood at info@d-qa.com for more information about our research, or for inquiries into dQ&A’s industry-leading services.
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