Abstract Body

Background The implementation of monitoring for primary care can contribute to improvement of the quality of diabetes care.

Objectives Our study aimed to describe associations of primary diabetes care performance indicators with structural characteristics of general medical practices (GMP) and socio-economic status of patients.

Methods Using data for adults from 2018 covering the whole country, GMP specific performance indicators standardized by patients’ age, sex, and eligibility for exemption certificate were computed for adults. Linear regression models were applied to evaluate the relationship between GMP specific parameters (list size, settlement type, geographical location, GP vacancy, age of GPs) and patients’ socio-economic status (education, employment, proportion of Roma among adults, housing density) and diabetes care performance indicators.

Results Patients received 58.64% of the required medical interventions. GMP with older-than-65-year GP was associated with lower performance indicators (hemoglobin A1c testing: β= -0.082; serum creatinine checking: β= -0.086; serum lipid status checking: β= -0.082; influenza immunization: β= -0.032). GP vacancy was related to low performance in influenza immunization (β= -0.053). Lower level of patients’ education (hemoglobin A1c testing: ß= -0.108; ophthalmic examination: ß= -0.100; serum creatinine determination: β= -0.103; serum lipid status checking: ß= -0.108; retinopathy surgery: β= 0.043) and small GMP size (retinopathy surgery: β= 0.178; dialysis treatment: β= 0.166) were associated with poor performance indicators.

Conclusion The diabetes care performance in Hungary is significantly determined by socio-economic and structural factors which cannot be influenced by GPs. Therefore, the facilitation of working environment’s improvement could be the primary outcome of implementing diabetes monitoring.