Hospital Admission Rates Decrease

Studies conducted by the Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) indicate that hospitalizationsfor diabetes havedecreased. One CDC study showedthat for patients with diabetesthe admission rate for a potentiallypreventable reason dropped by35% between 1994 and 2002.The study evaluated the incidenceof complications of uncontrolleddiabetes that would lead toan emergency room visit, kidneyfailure, or limb amputation.Although the number of US diabetes-related hospitalizationsactually rose marginally over the8-year period, it was against abackdrop of significant increasein the occurrence of the disease.

A separate CDC study that focusedon kidney failure and diabetesfound that the rate of kidneyfailure fell by ~30% since1996. The result is promisingdespite the rise in prevalence ofthe disease in the United States.CDC lead investigator Nilka RiosBurrows, MPH, said that newmedications to control bloodsugar and hypertension are a significantreason for the drop in diabetes-related kidney failure.