Use of forms for follow-up of diabetes in general practice

The majority of patients with type 2 diabetes are followed up in general practice. We have investigated whether the use of forms by GPs for recording clinical data contributes to lower mortality and morbidity for this patient group.

This systematic review is based on literature searches in MEDLINE, EMBASE, ISI Web of Science, Cochrane CENTRAL and PubMed. We included studies that 1) dealt with adults over 18 years of age with diabetes who were followed up in the primary health service and 2) compared mortality and morbidity with and without the use of forms. We summarised the results qualitatively and using meta-analyses.

Seven studies were included. One study (1262 participants) investigated the effect of the form on hard endpoints, without finding clear effects on mortality (HR 0.91; 95% CI 0.72-1.14), retinopathy (OR 0.90; 95% CI 0.53-1.52), peripheral nerve injury (OR 0.86; 95% CI 0.57-1.29), myocardial infarction (OR 0.65; 95% CI 0.31-1.35) or stroke (OR 0.89; 95% CI 0.39-2.01). Use of forms appears to have little or no effect on body weight (3 studies), and a small, positive effect on blood pressure (5 studies) and total cholesterol (2 studies).

Published data at present provide no clear answers, but shows that use of forms in the follow-up of patients with diabetes in general practice may tend to contribute to lower mortality and morbidity.