Research suggests that that gaps in care quality likely translate to poor health outcomes in children living with diabetes. A new PopData-supported study will inform clinical practice in response to rising levels of Diabetes, type 1 (T1D) and type 2 (T2D), in children, in Canada and globally.
Past studies have shown there is a large gap between observed pediatric diabetes practices and potentially achievable outcomes such as adherence to clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) recommended by different associations in British Columbia. Under a previous project, Shazhan Amed, Clinical Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia (UBC), led a team to explore why these gaps exist and identify factors related to patient/family, healthcare providers, health system, and loss of young adults after transition to adult care. The project generated T1D and T2D administrative cohorts to determine prevalence and incidence and prevalence trends from 2002-2019 and identified an adolescent transition cohort.
Data access has now been granted for a new project to leverage the linked administrative data from the previous project and link it to researcher-collected data from the BC Pediatric Diabetes Registry.
“The registry captures clinical and sociodemographic characteristics and patient reported outcome and experience measures,” says Dr. Amed. “We will characterize changing epidemiological trends of T1D and T2D in children and youth living in BC, and describe the relationships between healthcare utilization, CPG adherence, and clinical and patient reported outcomes.” The study also aims to describe adherence to CPGs in the context of evolving recommendations and during the COVID19 pandemic.
PopData will link researcher-collected data with data sets from the BC Ministry of Health, the BC Perinatal Data Registry, LifeLabs and the BC Pediatric Diabetes Registry for analysis.
Findings will be published in academic journals and presented at national and international conferences. The study team will communicate the analyses to provincial organizations, including UBC Department of Pediatrics, Provincial Health Services Authority, Child Health BC and BC’s Ministry of Health, through presentations and seminars. In addition, Dr. Amed will share the results with national networks and organizations, including the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System and the national pediatric diabetes registry network, CAPACITY. The findings from this study will be also be used to inform clinical practice change at BC Children’s Hospital and diabetes education clinics in the Interior, Northern, Coastal, and Island health authorities.
The project is funded by the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation.
