More Americans Successfully Reach Diabetes Treatment Goals

The amount of people with diabetes is growing, yet so is the number of people successfully dealing with the condition. A large U.S. government survey shows that while there's a lot of room for improvement to prevent complications, more people are reaching their treatment goals.

Only a few decades ago, a mere two percent of people with any kind of diabetes met or exceeded good diabetes measurement. By 2010, though, that number has skyrocketed to 19 percent. This bodes well for people who currently suffer from the condition.

There are three goals for good diabetes management, also known as the ABC's of diabetes. The first is hemoglobin A1C, which is an estimate of blood sugar levels for the past three months. It's expressed as a percentage and should be determined by a doctor, though the American Diabetes Association recommends that people with the condition aim for less than seven percent. The second measure is keeping track of blood pressure and making sure that it's 130/80 millimeters of mercury or less. The third and final measure is making sure that LDL cholesterol levels are below 100 milligrams per decileter.

To avoid serious complications, people with diabetes have to keep as close to these recommended goals as possible. Complications could include heart disease, kidney failure and vision problems.

In order to track the way people dealt with diabetes, researchers examined data from four U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys that were conducted from 1998 to 1994, 1999 to 2002, 2003 to 2006 and from 2007 to 2010. All of the participants in these surveys were older than 20 and while they all had diabetes, they didn't specify what kind.

Overall, researchers found that A1C control increased from 43.1 percent to 52.5 percent, blood pressure control increased from 33.2 percent to 51.1 percent and LDL cholesterol control increased from 9.9 percent to 51.4 percent.

But it's not all good news. Despite the improved trend, 81.2 percent of patients still failed to achieve all three goals. Nonetheless, the study shows that large gains to advances resulting from the important benefits achieved in key trials in glycemic control may have indeed benefited those with diabetes. The study also demonstrates while diabetes management is improving, there's still a long way to go.