Low Attendance at Structured Education for People with Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes: General Practice Characteristics and Individual Patient Factors Predict Uptake

Objective: The aims were to determine the association between individual and neighbourhood factors and attendance at structured education amongst people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Methods: Multi-level analysis of questionnaire data from a prospective cohort of adults newly diagnosed T2DM. Setting was primary care, London, UK. Main outcome was attendance at structured education within 2 years.Results: Of 1790 people recruited, attendance data were available for 1626 (91%). Only 22.4% (n=365/1626) attended education. Attendance was independently associated with female gender (OR 1.28,95% Cl 1.05-1.46), lower HbA1c (OR 0.98 mmol/mol 95% CI 0.97-0.99) and non-smoker status (OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.07-1.55). General practice covariates, achievement of primary care targets for glycaemic control (OR 1.05, 95% C.I. 1.01-1.08) and recording of retinal screening (OR 0.96, 95% C.I. 0.93-0.99) were independently associated with attendance but unexplained general practice clustering accounted for 17% of the variance.Conclusion: Education uptake is low amongst people with new onset T2DM. Attenders are more likely to be female, non-smokers with better HbA1c. General practices achieving glycaemic targets are more likely to have patients who attend education.Practice implications: Strategies are needed to improve attendance at structured diabetes education particularly amongst hard to reach groups. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.