Diabetes Often Not Diagnosed or Treated Properly

At one time I believed that America had an excellent core of doctors. We may still have this, but the numbers have decreased dramatically if I am reading my research correctly. This is disturbing and even my current team of doctors is beginning to concern me as some are not paying attention to the list of medications I am currently taking when they prescribe a new medication. Even my pharmacist did not have the courtesy to check.

HealthDay News in an article published on March 4 talks about a study done in seven countries which included the United States. The article said that nearly 90 percent of U.S. adult diabetics 35 years of age and older are receiving ineffective treatment of blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol. This is disturbing for several reasons and when they say that people diagnosed with diabetes do not receive treatment for other cardiovascular risks that are just a dangerous as unmanaged blood sugar.

This study is published in the March edition of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization. What bothers me is the statement that too many people are not being properly diagnosed with diabetes and related cardiovascular disease risk factors. Those who are diagnosed aren't being effectively treated.

That this is happening in this country is understandable when we have the American Diabetes Association (ADA) that is functioning for the interest of fund raising and the medical community and not for the interest of patients. They give lip service to the patients and do nothing to upset the medical community. Their mantra of carbs, carbs and more carbs does not work for many people with diabetes. Will they change this? They have tempered it slightly to allow for individual differences, but give no real guidance about this and continue to stress the value of carbohydrates.

With the continuing evidence coming out about the dangers of whole grains and that fat being not problem, the ADA is not working with the American Heart Association to correct the errors. They also are not working with the American Association of Diabetes Educators or the American Dietitian Association to set the records straight and get them off their mantra of carbs, whole grains, and low fat. It seems that these groups are pushing this mantra even more enthusiastically.

So it is easy to understand why 90 percent of the U.S. adults with diabetes are receiving poor treatments for blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol. With the medical community not being pushed to improve, this can only get worse. Then with studies like the ACCORD study warning the medical community to not use tight interventions for older patients with diabetes, no improvements are likely to be made.

Read this short article here, and a longer article here.