Indigent Diabetics Lack Faith in Medical System

Poor patients with diabetes lack faith inthe medical system, according to a telephonesurvey of 216 middle-aged and olderadults attending a clinic for the impoverished.Of the participants, 40% were whiteand the remainder were black. The study'spurpose was to establish whether raceplayed a role in attitudes toward medicalcare, and whether attitudes reflected howwell diabetes was controlled.

The results showed no relationshipbetween race and medical mistrust, accordingto Leonard E. Egede, MD. "We were also surprisedthat trust in the medical care systemwas not correlated with measures of metaboliccontrol," he said. He added that "more trustingpatients felt more in control of their diabetesand reported better physical and mentalhealth" (Diabetes Care, January 2006).