Association between education and quality of diabetes care in Switzerland

Abstract

Purpose

Low socioeconomic status is associated with higher prevalence of diabetes, worse outcomes, and worse quality of care. We explored the relationship between education, as a measure of socioeconomic status, and quality of care in the Swiss context.

Patients and methods

Data were drawn from a population-based survey of 519 adults with diabetes during fall 2011 and summer 2012 in a canton of Switzerland. We assessed patients and diabetes characteristics. Eleven indicators of quality of care were considered (six of process and five of outcomes of care). After bivariate analyses, regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, and diabetic complications were performed to assess the relationship between education and quality of care.

Results

Of 11 quality-of-care indicators, three were significantly associated with education: funduscopy (patients with tertiary versus primary education were more likely to get the exam: odds ratio, 1.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.004–3.3) and two indicators of health-related quality of life (patients with tertiary versus primary education reported better health-related quality of life: Audit of Diabetes-Dependent Quality of Life: β=0.6 [95% CI, 0.2–0.97]; SF-12 mean physical component summary score: β=3.6 [95% CI, 0.9–6.4]).

Conclusion

Our results suggest the presence of educational inequalities in quality of diabetes care. These findings may help health professionals focus on individuals with increased needs to decrease health inequalities.

Keywords:

• primary care
• education
• quality of care
• diabetes

Acknowledgments

We thank Katia Iglesias Rutishauser for statistical assistance.

Funding

The project was funded by the Department of Public Health of the canton of Vaud (“Programme cantonal Diabète”). I.P.-B. was supported by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (PROSPER Grant 32333B-123817 and Grant 32333B-139789) and, since August 2013, has been supported by a grant from the Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH + Assistant Professorship grant).

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.