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Health outcomes in people with type 2 diabetes. A record linkage study
Kate J Brameld1, Alison Ward, Arem L Gavin
1Centre for Health Services Research, Department of Public Health, University of Western Australia.
Introduction:
This study pilots a method of measuring health outcomes in a general practice population of patients with type 2 diabetes.
Method:
The Diabetic Register of the Perth and Osborne Divisions of General Practice was linked to the Western Australian Health Services Research Linked Database.
Results:
Of the 487 patients in the study, 332 (68%) had been admitted before their diagnosis of diabetes (40% with a diabetes related condition), and 56% were admitted postdiagnosis (55% with a diabetes related condition). The admission rate increased with age and duration of diabetes.
Discussion:
The data show that a large proportion of diabetic patients suffer from serious comorbidity both pre- and post-diagnosis and demonstrate that their hospital admission rate is higher than that in the general population.
Conclusion:
The project demonstrates that linked hospital morbidity data can be used to monitor health outcomes in a general practice population of diabetic patients.