Improved Diabetes Control Also Improves Overall Health and Productivity

Press Release Date: November 3, 1998

type 2 (adult onset) diabetes patients treated with both diet and oral medication have better blood sugar, or glycemic, control than patients treated by diet alone. This improved control was found to be associated with better quality of life, including work productivity, and less need and cost for health care services overall. This is the finding of a new study that looked at the quality-of-life benefits of good glycemic control, funded, in part, by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. The study, "Health Economic Benefits and Quality of Life During Improved Glycemic Control in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus," written by Marcia A. Testa, Ph.D., of the Harvard School of Public Health, and Donald C. Simonson, M.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, is published in the November 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Editor's Note: For interviews with Drs. Testa or Simonson, call Karen Sutherland at (212) 886-3500, or send a fax to (212) 886-3291.

For additional information, please contact AHCPR Press Office: Karen Carp, (301) 427-1858 (KCarp@ahrq.gov); Karen Migdail, (301) 427-1855 (KMigdail@ahrq.gov).

Internet Citation:

Improved Diabetes Control Also Improves Overall Health and Productivity. Press release, November 3, 1998. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/diabt2pr.htm