[In former East Germany were diabetic patients not only "well managed", but also well treated?]

The quality of diabetes care in the former GDR 1989/90 and in former West Germany 1990/91 was compared in a case control study. The study group consisted of 83% of the diabetic patients registered in the local diabetes care unit in Jena who were on insulin. The patients (86 women, 104 men; 131 Type-I and 59 Type-II, aged 16-60 years) were in the care of the local diabetes care unit. The control group consisted of randomly selected diabetic patients of the outpatient department of the university of Düsseldorf (matched pairs). Despite a different strategy of therapy the HbA1c (Jena/Düsseldorf) was the same: 154%/153% of the mean normal value in type-I and 178%/175% in type-II. The prevalence of retinopathy in type-I and type-II and proteinuria in type-I was not different, whereas the prevalence of proteinuria in type II- and of hypertension in both types of diabetes was higher in Jena.