The development of diabetes complications in GP-centered healthcare

To compare the development of diabetes complications, measured in terms of clinical end points, of patients enrolled in general practitioner (GP)-centered healthcare (Hausarztzentrierte Versorgung [HZV]) and patients in usual GP care (non-HZV) over 4 years.

Retrospective closed cohort study based on German claims data.

The main end points in our evaluation were dialysis, blindness, amputation, stroke, myocardial infarction, cardiovascular disease, hypoglycemia, and mortality. We used Cox proportional hazards regression models for multivariable analysis.

We included 217,964 patients in our study: 119,355 were enrolled in HZV and 98,609 were in non-HZV. Compared with non-HZV, the HZV group had a 15.6% lower risk of requiring dialysis during the 4 years of observation. Risks were also lower in the HZV group for all other end points except mortality.

The results of the present study indicate that GP-centered healthcare is associated with a delay in the occurrence of serious diabetes complications and reduces the risk of diabetes complications. This may be because GP-centered care is associated with improved coordination of care.