Diabetes education centre attendance and the effect on medication utilization in the elderly in Ontario

Abstract

Diabetes education centres (DECs) provide patients with self-management skills to control diabetes and manage complications. To evaluate the effect of DEC attendance on prescriptions for diabetes treatments, prescriptions for cardiovascular risk reduction, and visits for retinopathy screening, a population based cohort study of residents of Ontario, Canada with diagnosed diabetes aged ≥65 years was performed using administrative databases. DEC attendance was identified using a registry of visits to all DECs in the province in 2006. Demographic and clinical confounders and pre-index utilization were used to adjust the logistic regression and also to construct a propensity score matched cohort. Patients attending DECs had greater filling of prescriptions for statins than non-attendees in both analyses. DEC attendance was also associated with greater drug dispensation of glucose lowering medications, glucose monitoring strips and ACE inhibitors/ARBs, and visits to ophthalmology/optometry in both analyses. Diabetes self-management education at DECs is associated with better quality of care in the elderly in Ontario.