Repositorio Digital

Resumen en ingles

Abstract Background: Prediabetes has been proposed as a risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Despite the clinical importance of prediabetes, little is known about the level of knowledge, beliefs and barriers to screening and treating prediabetes amongst care health providers in Latin America. The aim of the present survey was to evaluate the knowledge and beliefs about prediabetes amongst in Latin Ameri‑can health care providers. Methodology: In a cross-sectional study, we adapted the written survey designed by the Johns Hopkins University group, and applied it to health care providers across Latin America during three meetings, in 2017, and with physi‑cians from primary care centers in Bucaramanga, Colombia convened in 2017. The survey consisted of questions under four headings, diabetes screening, management of prediabetes, harmacological treatment—metformin use, and demographic information. We perform a descriptive analysis to determine the diferences in responses between diferent medical specialties. Results: The majority of the care providers that answered the survey were Colombian physicians, 54.5% of respond‑ents had 10 years or more since completing their training and more women responded. Only 9.5% identifed the 12 prediabetes risk factors described in the literature. The most common risk factor identifed was a family history of diabetes, followed by overweight, a sedentary lifestyle and dyslipidemia, while ethnicity was the risk factor least com‑monly. 47.1% answered that laboratory tests to detect prediabetes are fasting glucose and HbA1C, 82.5% correctly identifed fasting plasma glucose as the best test, 35.9% correctly responded that to the recommended weight loss goal is 5 to 7% and 49.1% that 150 min is considered the minimum level of physical activity per week. 78% agreed that the identifcation and treatment of prediabetes is important. 56% believed that patients with prediabetes progress more rapidly to diabetes and 40.6% considered that metformin could reduce the risk of diabetes in patients already diagnosed with prediabetes. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that there are important gaps in the knowledge of the diagnosis, clinical implications and management of prediabetes amongst Latin America health providers.