Improving detection and care of people with pre-diabetes in primary health care

Researchers in Sweden asked diabetes health professional’s views

By Libby Woodhead

Pre-diabetes is when blood glucose levels are higher than the ideal range. But they are not high enough to diagnosed type 2 diabetes.

People with pre-diabetes are at risk of type 2 diabetes and other health conditions (e.g. heart and/or stroke). Studies show that healthy eating and physical activity can delay or prevent type 2 diabetes.

So, early detection and action are important. But, as there are no visible signs that a person has pre-diabetes, it can be hard to recognise.

A study was led by Katri Harcke (a PhD student at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden) who collaborated with Professor Timothy Skinner.

What did they do?

The researchers talked with 26 health professionals from primary healthcare settings in the Stockholm region. They talked about their views on pre-diabetes in primary care. Health professionals included GPs, nurses, and other professionals (e.g. physiotherapists) who work with people with pre-diabetes.

What did they find?

The health professionals viewed pre-diabetes as an important health issue. They also said that it is not prioritised in primary health care.

They proposed two key areas:

1. 1. ‘Adding pre-diabetes to the agenda’. This is to recognise pre-diabetes as a health condition.
   2. ‘Striving to find strategies to implement pre-diabetes care’. This is to improve pre-diabetes care

The health professionals spoke of ways pre-diabetes care could be improved:

• • Create a standard of care to recognise pre-diabetes as a health condition. This could help with pre-diabetes detection and care.
  • Health professionals should work as a team to assist people with pre-diabetes to manage their health. This could prevent or delay type 2 diabetes.
  • Improve communication by all health professionals offering the same language and messages to people with pre-diabetes. This could improve treatment planning and care goals. This would provide a better health outlook for people with pre-diabetes.
  • Provide pre-diabetes education for health professionals. Having up-to-date skills and resources will support health professionals to give the best level of pre-diabetes care.

Including these ideas in primary health care could improve prevention and/or early action to support people with pre-diabetes.

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Reference:

Harcke, K., Graue, M., Skinner, T. C., Olsson, C. B., & Saleh-Stattin, N. (2023). Making prediabetes visible in primary health care: a qualitative study of health care professionals’ perspectives. BMC Primary Care, 24, 266. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-023-02230-2

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