Epidemiological multicentre study on the education provided to patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Spanish Health Care System. The Forma2 study.

PURPOSE: The purpose of the present study was to characterize the education that patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus receive, and to identify differences as regards the presence of insulin therapy or not. METHODS: This crossover, multicentre and descriptive study involved 1066 Spanish physicians who completed a questionnaire on Internet. RESULTS: The physicians that responded had a mean of 26.0 years of experience in healthcare, and mainly worked in a walk-in clinic in an urban area. Physicians rated the level of patient knowledge about their disease on a 5.0 point-scale. Fifty percent of them indicated that they spent between 15 and 30min in educating patients at the time of diagnosis. Previous control with HbA1c>9%, presence of microvascular complications, and a low socio-cultural level, were factors associated with spending more time in education. CONCLUSION: This is the first study designed to evaluate the education provided to patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus from Spain. The time spent and the individualization of the education are important factors associated with better long-term control of the disease, and thus with the effectiveness of the clinical management.

[Management of hypertension and diabetes in Primary Care clinical practice: ATENCION study]. / Práctica clínica en el manejo de la hipertensión y la diabetes en Atención Primaria: estudio ATENCION.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death in the Spanish population. The detection and control of cardiovascular risk factors are fundamental in the prevention of cardiovascular disease. The main objectives of this study are to analyse the attitudes and therapeutic decisions of Primary Care (PC) physicians when treating hypertension (HT) and diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2), with the aim of establishing the situation and eventually proposing improvement strategies. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A national ecological, multicentre, cross-sectional, and descriptive study was conducted in 2013. A questionnaire was used and 1,028 PC physicians took part in the study. RESULTS: A total of 92.9% of the investigators consulted have indicated that they follow the guidelines for evaluation, treatment, and diagnosis of HT, and 91.4% in the case of diabetes. The latter is diagnosed as a casual finding, while HT is diagnosed through active investigation in patients with other risk factors. Combined therapy takes more than 6 months to take effect in patients with HT, and between 8 and 9 months in diabetic patients. The percentage of non-compliance is similar (10-40%) in both pathologies. Around half the physicians questioned considered interaction with the specialist to be good or excellent (46% HT and 57.3% DM2). CONCLUSIONS: Clinical practices in PC for HT and DM2 have some basic criteria in common. The interaction with the specialist is good, but there is a considerable margin for improvement.