title: [Health status of type 2 diabetics in Austria - perspective of a quality improvement initiative].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence of late complications in a large clinical sample of type 2 diabetic patients in Austria.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data of all patients with type 2 diabetes entered into the database of the Forum for Quality Systems in Diabetes Care Austria (FQSD-A) between 1 January 1997 and 1 September 2007 were used for the analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data from 23,641 persons with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus were collected. Patients were 66.3 +/- 11.5 years old, with an average diabetes duration of 8.0 +/- 8.5 years. Prevalence of blindness, amputation, myocardial infarction or bypass, stroke and end stage renal failure was 0.9%, 2.3%, 12.2%, 8.7% and 0.8%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Prevalence of late diabetic complications in Austria is high compared with other European countries. The management of persons with Type 2 Diabetes should be further optimized to reduce the incidence of late complications of diabetes.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Medizinische Systemtechnik und Gesundheitsmanagement, Joanneum Research Forschungsgesellschaft mbH, Graz, Austria. ivo.rakovac@joanneum.at
authors.forename: Ivo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rakovac
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Plank
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jeitler
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Beck
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seereiner
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mrak
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: Thomas R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Pieber