New statistics show the University of Ottawa’s Heart Institute innovative diabetes detection program, aimed at lowering the amount of people living with undiagnosed diabetes, has been a success. The Centretown Community Health Centre has partnered with the Institute to educate patients once they’ve been diagnosed.
The institute says two million people are currently known to be living with diabetes in Canada, with another one million having the illness without knowing it. To combat this, in May 2011 the Heart Institute began to test every inpatient dealing with heart disease for diabetes.
There is a strong link between heart disease and diabetes. Having diabetes puts a person at a higher risk for a cardiovascular disease. The World Health Organization says 50 per cent of diabetics die from heart disease or stroke.
Major risk factors for diabetes include a family history, obesity, smoking and an inactive lifestyle. Diabetes is caused when the body cannot produce enough insulin or the body cannot use the insulin effectively. It is treated usually through medication that controls blood sugar levels but diabetics are also encouraged to exercise regularly and adopt a healthy diet.
Wanda Romaniec, program manager at the Cooper Street health centre’s Community Diabetes Education Program, says the program tries to help those suspected of having diabetes obtain a clear diagnosis.
“We conduct risk assessments and invite people at the higher risk levels to be tested,” she says. “We ask them a series of questions and then conduct blood tests to see if they have pre-diabetes or diabetes.”
The Heart Institute’s strategy differs, as it is a mandatory directive to test every inpatient, not just those who appear to be at high-risk. The initial phase of the project has been deemed a success. The institute announced their findings in mid-November, revealing 85 per cent of patients’ doctors being notified of individuals’ diabetic status, compared with only 26 per cent before the project began.
Tina Leech, the Community Diabetes Education Program’s clinical manager, says the Heart Institute’s program is effective at lowering the amount of people in Ottawa living with undiagnosed diabetes.
“We’ve established a nice partnership with the institute. They’ve been screening in hospitals and then referring patients to us. We are city-wide and have a team of educators, nurses and dieticians, so when the referrals come in the clients can be seen close to home.”
After the patients are diagnosed, the program invites them to be seen individually or in group sessions to learn more about the chronic disease.
“These groups are meant to offer a basic understanding to people when they’re first diagnosed,” Romaniec says, “They’re wondering what’s happening to their bodies and we help them by telling them what to watch out for with different medications and food and such. It’s meant for patients to begin to understand what the disease really is.”
The released statistics show that after the detection program, 34 per cent of patients were referred to a community diabetes program, such as CDEPO, compared to zero per cent of patients before the program started.