Changes in health care utilization
indicators of self-care
Participants’ visits to family physicians remained
consistent: 4.61 visits for the TAU
group and 4.75 visits for the PTC group
during the study year; 4.87 and 4.74 visits,
respectively, for the prior year (NS).
Participants in both groups changed the
dose or frequency of oral agent therapy
equally during the study year (84.6% of
the PTC group versus 83.3% of the TAU
group). Although 22% of PTC insulinusing
participants changed to an insulin
analog, as compared with 13% of the TAU
group, this did not reach significance
(P 0.082). Both PTC and TAU participants
increased the frequency of injections
(from 2.45 to 2.76 per day in the
PTC group, from 2.32 to 2.54 in the TAU
group; pre- versus post-F 32.36, P
0.001; interaction F 0.96, NS). Finally,
more patients in the PTC group participated
in diabetes education programs
than patients in the TAU group (47.7 and
37.7%, respectively; P 0.002).