FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH CLINIC NONATTENDANCE IN ADULTS WITH TYPE-1 DIABETES-MELLITUS

In order to examine the causes of non-attendance in a diabetic clinic, a 1-year retrospective casenote review of 259 diabetic patients with no evidence of major complications was undertaken. Frequency of clinic attendance, clinic non-attendance, and glycaemic control (HbA1c) were recorded. In a sub-sample of 82 patients, more detailed demographic d ata was obtained via questionnaire. During the previous year 39 % of p atients had failed to attend the clinic on at least one occasion and 1 0 % were recurrent non-attenders. Nonattenders had a significantly hig her mean HbA(1c) compared with those who did attend (8.1 +/- 2.2 vs 7. 6 +/- 1.6 %; p = 0.03). They were also significantly younger (mean age 27 +/- 7 vs 29 +/- 9 yrs; p = 0.02) and had a significantly shorter d uration of diabetes (12 +/- 8 vs 15 +/- 10 yrs; p = 0.02). Attendance did not differ according to gender or age of onset of diabetes. Sub-sa mple analysis showed that smokers, those with children at home, and si ngle parents were all more likely to default from their appointments. Non-attendance is a significant problem at our diabetic clinic, howeve r, by addressing the reasons why patients fail to attend clinic we hop e to develop strategies to encourage regular attendance. This may be t ranslated into improved glycaemic control and ultimately reduce the ri sk of late diabetic complications. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.