Diabetes care for African-Americans can be improved

(HealthDay)—For African-Americans with type 2 diabetes, health care-promoted interventions targeting patients, the health care system, or both, can improve the quality of care, according to a review and meta-analysis published in the March issue of Diabetes Care.

Ignacio Ricci-Cabello, Ph.D., from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and colleagues conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and characterize health care-led interventions aimed at improving the quality of care for African-Americans with type 2 diabetes. Data from 32 articles, reporting 31 health care-promoted interventions, were included.

The researchers found that 22 interventions targeted patients, five targeted the health care system, and four addressed both patients and the health care system. Interventions that targeted patients, which mainly included culturally-adapted diabetes self-management education, correlated with a 0.8 percent decrease in the percentage of hemoglobin A1c. Available evidence suggested that interventions targeting the health care system and multifaceted interventions may be effective and can potentially improve diabetes care and health outcomes.

"This systematic review provides evidence about the key role that health care can play in reducing ethnic disparities in African-American patients with type 2 diabetes by designing and conducting interventions aimed at this specific purpose," the authors write.

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