Previous studies have shown that diabetes self-management education and support services empower people with diabetes to follow preventive care practices that reduce disease complications. Investigators who aimed to describe self-reported receipt of diabetes education and its association with following recommended self-care and clinical preventive care practices,analyzed data from the 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System for 42,631 adults (aged18 or older) with self-reported diabetes in. The study team assessed four self-care practices (daily glucose testing, daily foot checks, smoking abstention, and regular physical activity), and six clinical practices (pneumococcal vaccination, biannual A1C test, and an annual dilated eye exam, influenza vaccination, healthcare visit for diabetes, and foot exam). Of adults with diabetes, 52.3% reported receiving diabetes education; those who did had a higher predicted probability for three of four self-care practices (daily glucose testing, daily foot check, and regular physical activity) and all six clinical practices (pneumonia vaccination, biannual HbA1c test, annual eye exam, flu vaccination, healthcare visit, and medical foot exam). Diabetes education was positively associated with following preventive care practices.
