NDEP's National Diabetes Survey Reveals Trends in Diabetes Knowledge, Perceptions and Behaviors

For more than a decade, the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) has collected data to measure diabetes awareness, knowledge and behavior over time. The NDEP National Diabetes Survey (NNDS), a periodic population-based probability survey of US adults, provides information on areas of interest to the diabetes community.

Some highlights from the latest episode of the NNDS survey published on the NIDDK website show that:

• Knowledge of the link between diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains incomplete: only three-quarters of those surveyed said they know the link between diabetes and CVD. Only a few more are aware of the link between diabetes and kidney disease.

• The distress of managing diabetes remains a problem for people with diabetes. The levels of distress badociated with the daily diabetes care routine, the demands of life with diabetes and the possible long-term complications continue to pose major challenges to our ability, as health professionals, to improve care and outcomes of diabetes.

• A significant number of people with diabetes report that they lack confidence in hyper and hypoglycemia, suggesting that many of our patients need an education and a Support for diabetes management.

But this survey does not bring only bad news …

• Awareness of family history of diabetes has increased significantly from 2011 to 2016, which is important in our efforts to reach people with risk factors for type 2 diabetes.

• The frequency and awareness of the A1C test in diabetics has improved, particularly among Hispanic and non-Hispanic blacks. H2C awareness has also increased significantly among people with diabetes 65 years and older.

• Especially when they have prediabetes, people take positive steps to improve their health and reduce their risk of diabetes, but improvements are possible.

As health professionals, what can we learn from this data? Ongoing awareness and education efforts have increased knowledge about diabetes and the risk of diabetes. However, the public's need for education and support for the prevention and treatment of diabetes remains urgent. Health professionals working in a myriad of disciplines must also continue their efforts to propose a team approach to health promotion, disease prevention and chronic disease management.

I encourage you to read the article "Results from a National Diabetes Survey: Highlighting Progress and Opportunities in Diabetes Prevention and Treatment" in the May 2019 issue of Diabetes Spectrum. for more details on the survey results.