Researchers in Sweden asked diabetes health professional’s views
By Libby Woodhead
Pre-diabetes [1] 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 [2] and other health conditions (e.g. heart and/or stroke). Studies [3] 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 [4] (a PhD student at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden) who collaborated with Professor Timothy Skinner [5].
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:
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- ‘Adding pre-diabetes to the agenda’. This is to recognise pre-diabetes as a health condition.
- ‘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:
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- 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.
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 [6]. BMC Primary Care, 24, 266. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-023-02230-2 [7]