Diabetes experts' reasoning about diabetes prevention studies: a questionnaire survey
2008

Diabetes Experts' Views on Prevention Studies

Sample size: 100 publication Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Ingrid Mühlhauser

Primary Institution: University of Hamburg

Hypothesis

Diabetes health care providers may deduce from a 60% reduction in diabetes risk a comparably high reduction in diabetic late complications.

Conclusion

The study found that misleading reporting of diabetes prevention studies leads to overestimation of effects on late complications.

Supporting Evidence

  • 84% of participants considered a 60% reduction in diabetes risk as important.
  • Only 19% rated a change in HbA1c of 0.1% as important.
  • The study highlights that framing of data affects perceptions of diabetes prevention efficacy.

Takeaway

Doctors think that if diabetes risk goes down a lot, then complications will also go down a lot, but that's not always true.

Methodology

Participants from two diabetes conferences completed a questionnaire assessing their views on diabetes prevention study results.

Potential Biases

The study did not assess detailed characteristics of participants, which may introduce bias.

Limitations

The study population is a convenience sample and includes only German-speaking diabetes experts.

Participant Demographics

Participants were primarily certified diabetologists or practicing physicians with a special interest in diabetes care.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1186/1756-0500-1-90

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