Trends in chronic complications of type 2 diabetic patients from Spanish primary health care centres (GEDAPS study): Ten year-implementation of St. Vincent recommendations

AimsTo assess the implementation of St. Vincent recommendations in Catalonia (Spain) between 1993 and 2003 following a program of Continuous Quality Improvement.Methods65 health centres (433 health professionals) took part in the study. From 1993 to 2003, 34 workshops on consensus guidelines and feedback referring to the variables that needed to be improved were carried out. Data collection was obtained concerning, socio-demographic information, and disease characteristics and complications from patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM).ResultsMost cardiovascular risk factors improved: glycosilated haemoglobin (HbA1c) was reduced by 0.7% (95% CI: −0.49:−0.90); total cholesterol by 0.54 mmol/L (95% CI: −0.53:−0.55); non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol by 0.81 mmol/L (95% CI: −0.80:−0.82); systolic blood pressure (SBP) by 6.02 mmHg (95% CI: −5.79:−6.25), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) by 2.65 mmHg (95% CI: −2.4:−2.9), with the exception of smoking and obesity, which increased by 2.1% and 5.9%, respectively.Retinopathy and albuminuria decreased by 40.7% and 46% (p < 0.001), respectively. The incidence of diabetic foot lesions and amputations decreased by 65.7% and 61.1% (p < 0.001), respectively. The prevalence of macrovascular complications showed a slight reduction (p = 0.037). Ischemic cardiomyopathy and cerebrovascular accidents decreased by 7.7% and 17.6%, respectively.ConclusionsOur Continuous Quality Improvement program based on St. Vincent recommendations, had a positive impact on cardiovascular risk factors. We observed a reduction of chronic complications in type 2 DM patients.