Epidemiological multicentre study on the education provided to patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Spanish Health Care System. The Forma2 study.

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to characterize the education that patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus receive, and to identify differences as regards the presence of insulin therapy or not.

Methods: This crossover, multicentre and descriptive study involved 1066 Spanish physicians who completed a questionnaire on Internet.

Results: The physicians that responded had a mean of 26.0 years of experience in healthcare, and mainly worked in a walk-in clinic in an urban area. Physicians rated the level of patient knowledge about their disease on a 5.0 point-scale. Fifty percent of them indicated that they spent between 15 and 30min in educating patients at the time of diagnosis. Previous control with HbA1c>9%, presence of microvascular complications, and a low socio-cultural level, were factors associated with spending more time in education.

Conclusion: This is the first study designed to evaluate the education provided to patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus from Spain. The time spent and the individualization of the education are important factors associated with better long-term control of the disease, and thus with the effectiveness of the clinical management.