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

Murray, Cathy Maureen (2015) Diabetes education centre attendance and the effect on medication utilization in the elderly in Ontario. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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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.

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