Socioeconomic position and contact to general practice among persons with diabetes.
BACKGROUND
The social inequality gradient in the prognosis of diabetes is well-established but it is unclear whether this inequality gradient extends to the use of general practice among persons with diabetes.


METHODS
A nationwide, population-based cohort study was conducted including 137,492 persons with incident diabetes aged 40-79 years and 687,460 reference persons with no history of diabetes matched on gender and age. Information on diabetes was obtained from the National Diabetes Register, socioeconomic position (SEP) from Statistics Denmark and number of general practice consultations from the National Health Insurance Service Registry. Consultation rates for different SEP-groups during the first year after index day were compared.


RESULTS
Overall, persons with diabetes had 4.8 (95%CI: 4.7-4.8) more consultations in general practice during the first year after their diagnosis than reference persons with no history of diabetes. This additional consultation rate increased with decreasing SEP, e.g. 5.8 (95%CI: 5.6-6.0) for women aged 40-54 years with the lowest educational level and 4.9 (95%CI: 4.7-5.1) for women with the highest educational level.


CONCLUSIONS
Persons with diabetes had nearly five additional consultations with their general practitioner during the first year after their diagnosis and the number was higher for those with the lowest SEP.
Department of Public Health, Section for General Practice, Aarhus University, Denmark. emdl@alm.au.dk
Else-Marie
EM
Dalsgaard
Peter
P
Vedsted
Morten
M
Fenger-Grøn
Annelli
A
Sandbaek
Mogens
M
Vestergaard
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D058006:General Practice; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012042:Registries; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class; D013997:Time Factors