SWEET-FIX: a quality improvement initiative for hospitalized stroke patients with undiagnosed diabetes or prediabetes

Detecting and Managing Diabetes Mellitus and Prediabetes in Patients With Acute Stroke

PURPOSE

The purpose of the study was to determine the prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes mellitus (DM) and prediabetes (pre-DM) in acute stroke patients, to evaluate recommendations of diabetes treatment and follow-up care in a hospital setting, and to examine 1-year readmission rates based on admission A1C measure.

METHODS

This retrospective study comprised 200 patients randomly selected from 1095 patients admitted with an acute stroke and an A1C measurement during admission. DM and pre-DM prevalence levels were determined per A1C level. Recommendations for diabetes treatment during and after hospitalization were assessed; charts were reviewed for readmission.

RESULTS

Among 200 patients, 43% had known DM, and 0.5% had pre-DM. Among 113 patients without history of DM or pre-DM, 61.9% had A1C 5.7% to 6.4% (39-46 mmol/mol), and 8.8% had A1C ≥6.5% (48 mmol/mol). None of the newly diagnosed pre-DM and 60% of newly diagnosed DM were documented. Only 7 of newly diagnosed DM or pre-DM patients received diabetes education. For patients with known DM and A1C ≥7.0% (53 mmol/mol), 40.5% registered no change of diabetic regimen. Few patients were recommended for diabetes follow-up care. Patients with A1C ≥6.5% or <5.7% were more likely to be readmitted for any reason within 1 year (33.3% and 31.6%, respectively) than patients with A1C levels of 5.7% to 6.4% (16.5%).

CONCLUSIONS

The majority of acutely admitted stroke patients without known DM or pre-DM had A1C ≥5.7%. Newly diagnosed DM or pre-DM patients received inadequate diabetes education and follow-up care. These findings provide significant opportunities for improving acute stroke management.

Tackling the growing diabetes burden in Sub-Saharan Africa: a framework for enhancing outcomes in stroke patients

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 80% of worldwide diabetes (DM)-related deaths presently occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), and left unchecked these DM-related deaths will likely double over the next 20 years. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most prevalent and detrimental complication of DM: doubling the risk of CVD events (including stroke) and accounting for up to 80% of DM-related deaths. Given the aforementioned, interventions targeted at reducing CVD risk among people with DM are integral to limiting DM-related morbidity and mortality in LMIC, a majority of which are located in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, SSA is contextually unique: socioeconomic obstacles, cultural barriers, under-diagnosis, uncoordinated care, and shortage of physicians currently limit the capacity of SSA countries to implement CVD prevention among people with DM in a timely and sustainable manner. This article proposes a theory-based framework for conceptualizing integrated protocol-driven risk factor patient self-management interventions that could be adopted or adapted in future studies among hospitalized stroke patients with DM encountered in SSA. These interventions include systematic health education at hospital discharge, use of post-discharge trained community lay navigators, implementation of nurse-led group clinics and administration of health technology (personalized phone text messaging and home tele-monitoring), all aimed at increasing patient self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation for sustained adherence to therapies proven to reduce CVD event risk.