Among insured patients with diabetes, only 6.8% participated in self-management education and training within 1 year of their diagnosis, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
There was some variation in the rate of diabetes self-management education and training (DSMT) across various subgroups, but none reached a participation rate higher than 14.2% in a study analyzing 2009-2012 data for 95,555 persons in the Marketscan Commercial Claims and Encounters database (MMWR 2014;63:1045-9).
That 14.2% participation rate was achieved among patients treated with insulin (with or without antiglycemic medication), which was somewhat offset by the small percentage who were using insulin (6.8%). Those taking oral antiglycemics – by far the largest treatment group – had a 6.7% DSMT participation rate and those not taking antiglycemics had a rate of only 5.1%, the CDC reported.
The older of the two age groups in the study, 45- to 69-year-olds, was slightly more likely to participate in DSMT (7.2%) than were those aged 18-44 years (5.9), while men and women were equally likely to participate (6.8%), the Marketscan data showed.
“The finding of low rates of participation in DSMT among privately insured adults with newly diagnosed diabetes underscores the need to identify specific barriers to access and participation in DSMT along with strategies to overcome these barriers,” the CDC investigators wrote.
