Background

The Australian National Diabetes Audit is a well-established, important annual, benchmarking activity supported by the National Association of Diabetes Centres (NADC) in diabetes centres in all states and territories of Australia. The clinical data collection aims to assess a standardised set of predefined clinical parameters including demographic and biological variables, and clinical outcomes. 

Methods

Diabetes centres conducted the ANDA-AQCA 2015 survey of all consecutive patients attending their service over a 4 week period, during May/June 2015. De-identified data was collated and processed at the ANDA central coordinating/reporting centre. Information collected included patient demographics, type of diabetes, management methods, comorbid conditions, glycaemic control, smoking status, medication use, health professional attendances. Data analysis and reporting included descriptive statistics, by site, year of collection and location.

Results

Data for 5183 patients from 48 Diabetes Centres and 1 specialist endocrinologist in private practice was collected. All states and territories were represented. The mean patient age (±SD) was 56 (±17) years, with males and females equally represented. Average duration since diagnosis of diabetes was 14.1 ± 11.3 years. Most patients had type 2 diabetes (68%), followed by type 1 diabetes (23%) and gestational diabetes (4%). Mean HbA1c of all patients was 8.2% (±1.9). Previous stroke was reported by 5.5% of patients, myocardial infarction by 11.0%, coronary artery bypass by 10.9% and lower limb amputation by 2.1%. End-stage kidney disease affected 4.5% of patients and blindness 1.4%.

Conclusions

The national report provides a unique snapshot of the clinical status and outcomes of people with diabetes attending diabetes centres in 2015 and a comparison with past collections. This audit enables diabetes services to benchmark their practice processes and clinical outcome data, to identify areas for improvement in patient care and management.