We’re not getting any better at controlling diabetes in those who have it, Elizabeth Tracey reports

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The number of people who have diabetes continues to increase but controlling it, along with other common health conditions that can make things worse, has stagnated, a recent study concludes. Rita Kalyani, a diabetes expert at Johns Hopkins, describes the data.

Kalyani: Diabetes prevalence increased from about 9.8% to about 14%. Discouragingly risk factor control really did not improve. Individualized A1c targets, they found out there really wasn’t much change at all. How many had achieved a blood pressure less than 130 over 80 they also found it had definitely not improved. When they looked at the percentage that had attained LDL less than 100 they also did not find find significant improvement. Only one in five achieved all three targets.  :32

Kalyani says keeping blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol in check is your best bet to avoid cardiovascular disease if you have diabetes, and even if you don’t. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.