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Exploring Diabetes Care‐Related Outcomes in Arkansas Healthcare Systems for Young Old (Ages 65–74) and Old (Ages 75–84) Age Groups
Author(s) -
Bauerlein Danielle,
Phelps Josh,
Crook Tina,
Hakkak Reza
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.31.1_supplement.648.9
Subject(s) - medicine , blood pressure , diabetes mellitus , microalbuminuria , population , cholesterol , gerontology , endocrinology , environmental health
Diabetes mellitus is a growing public health issue around the world, and is reaching epidemic proportions within the state of Arkansas. Because older adults (defined as > age 65) tend to be the least studied age population in diabetes care, the objective of this study was to compare diabetes care‐related outcomes in older Arkansans with the quality indicators developed by the National Diabetes Quality Improvement Alliance (NDQIA) (e.g., recommended HbA1c, LDL‐cholesterol, total cholesterol, and blood pressure levels); and also to describe the percentage of older adults who met specific outcome measures defined by the NDQIA. Data were obtained on 8,148 patients from 2009–2014 and two different age groups were created with this data: young old (ages 65–74) and old (ages 75–84). The majority of older adults in this study met the NDQIA's outcome measures for HbA1c and LDL‐cholesterol levels (89% and 85%, respectively), while a slight minority of subjects met the outcome measure for blood pressure level (49.9%). Differences in median laboratory values between males and females were statistically significant for total cholesterol (TC), LDL‐cholesterol (LDL), and systolic blood pressure (SBP), z= 17.029 (TC), 8.523 (LDL), 8.459 (SBP), p<.0005. There were also statistically significant differences in median laboratory values between racial groups; TC, LDL, triglyceride (TG), microalbuminuria (MA), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and SBP [TC (X 2 (3)= 21.491, p<.0005); LDL (X 2 (3)= 23.418, p<.0005), TG (X 2 (3)= 41.874, p<.0005), MA (X 2 (3)= 12.501, p= .006), DBP (X 2 (3)= 108.057, p<.0005), SBP (X 2 (3)= 90.902, p<.0005)]. No statistically significant results were found between young old and old age groups. Our results largely indicated positive diabetes care‐related outcomes for older adults within the studied Arkansas healthcare systems; however, further research is needed within Arkansas or similar states to explain the existence of disparities in diabetes care and control, including exploring to what extent poverty, education, insurance status, access to healthcare, medication compliance, and practitioner‐developed treatment plans affect outcomes.