Does patient-centered care in diabetes improve glycemic control and quality of life?

A new study has found that while patient-centered care (PCC) was associated with significant improvements in both physical and mental quality of life and some aspects of diabetes self-management, it did not have a significant effect on glycemic control. PCC needs to expand more broadly throughout the healthcare system to have a meaningful impact on glycemic control, propose the authors of an article published in Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics (DTT).

In the article "Patient-Centered Care, Glycemic Control, Diabetes Self-Care, and Quality of Life in Adults with Type 2 Diabetes" the researchers attribute The Affordable Care Act with a renewed emphasis on PCC and patients increasingly seeking information to help them take a more active role in disease management and treatment decisions.

Joni Williams, Rebekah Walker, Brittany Smalls, Rachel Hill, and Leonard Egede, Medical University of South Carolina and Ralph H. Johnson Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Charleston, SC and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, report a significant relationship between PCC and several self-care behaviors including medication adherence, diet, exercise, and blood sugar testing.

"Patient engagement and self-care behaviors are essential in improving health outcomes for subjects with diabetes. Williams et al. report improved quality of life with patient-centered care in subjects with diabetes; however, their data did not support improvement in glucose control, which may be due to shorter follow up," says DTT Editor-in-Chief Satish Garg, MD, Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Colorado Denver.