Four-year impact of a continuous quality improvement effort implemented by a network of diabetes outpatient clinics: the AMD-Annals initiative.

Aims: We evaluated the impact of a continuous quality improvement effort implemented by a network of Italian diabetes clinics operating in the national healthcare system.

Methods: This was a controlled before-and-after study involving 95 centres, of which 67 joined the initiative since 2004 (group A) and 18 were first involved in 2007 (group B, control). All centres used electronic medical record systems.

Baseline quality-of-care data from a quality-improvement program implemented by a network of diabetes outpatient clinics.

Objective: To describe patterns of diabetes care and implement benchmarking activities at the national level.

Research Design And Methods: A total of 86 clinics participated, all using electronic medical records. Quality indicators were identified, and software was developed, enabling the extraction of the information needed for quality-of-care profiling.

Clustering of albumin excretion rate abnormalities in Caucasian patients with NIDDM. The Italian NIDDM Nephropathy Study Group.

Proteinuria and nephropathy have been found to cluster in families of non-insulin-dependent diabetic (NIDDM) Pima Indian, and in Caucasian insulin-dependent diabetic (IDDM) patients. No information is at present available for Caucasian NIDDM patients. The aim of the present study was to determine whether micro-macroalbuminuria (AER+) is associated with albumin excretion rate abnormalities in diabetic and non-diabetic siblings of probands with NIDDM and AER+.