Prepared by: Aleš Korošec 
Date of last change: September 2016

Purpose and justification of the indicator

Diabetes, with accompanying morbidity, social and economic consequences for sufferers, their families and the entire society, is becoming a major public health problem in many countries. Diabetes shortens the expected duration of life and, in the long course of complications, reduces the quality of life. In the last two decades, it has become more common in all age groups. The prevalence of diabetes increases with age, reaching around 10% at age 60 and over in most populations. Projections based on trends and the distribution of determinants of diabetes predict that in the EU the prevalence may increase to more than 10% of the population by 2025. Estimates are based on the higher prevalence of risk factors, particularly obesity and lack of physical activity and dietary characteristics in these diabetogenic environments, which promote obesity and are the most important determinants of increased incidence. The rapid growth in the number of people with type 2 diabetes, which accounts for 85-90% of cases, is also a consequence of the growing and aging population, economic development and urbanization. Research in European countries shows that, in addition to cases of the known disease, there are an additional 30% or more of this number of people with undiagnosed and untreated diabetes. With the more frequent occurrence of diabetes among the middle-aged population, a higher prevalence of complications in the working population can be expected.
The presented indicator increases awareness of the prevalence of diabetes in the local community, which can contribute to the reduction of risk factors for the onset of diabetes, better detection of diabetic patients and easier management of the disease.

Definition of indicator

The share of blood sugar-lowering medication recipients describes the number of blood sugar-lowering medication recipients per 100 inhabitants in the observed calendar year.
An age-standardized proportion is calculated, which allows mutual comparison of populations with different age structures.

Unit of measure

Calculation of the indicator

The proportion of recipients of blood sugar-lowering drugs is the ratio between the number of persons who received at least one prescription for a blood-sugar-lowering drug within the observed calendar year and the number of inhabitants in the middle of the same year, multiplied by 100.
In the calculation, drugs from the Anatomical-therapeutic-chemical classification of drugs of group A10: Drugs for the treatment of diabetes are taken into account as drugs for lowering blood sugar.
Recipients of diabetes medication
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The direct standardization method is used for standardization, where the Slovenian population from 2014 is used as the standard population.

Data sources for Slovenia

Outpatient Prescription Drug Database, National Institute of Public Health
Population, Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.

Time availability

Data on drug recipients is published annually.

Men in literature

<ol>
<li>National Institute of Public Health ( <a href="http://www.nijz.si/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.nijz.si/</a> )</li>
<li>Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia ( <a href="http://www.stat.si/StatWeb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.stat.si/StatWeb</a> )</li>
<li>Health for All Database ( <a href="http://data.euro.who.int/hfadb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://data.euro.who.int/hfadb/</a> )</li>
<li>Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Diabetes Data and Statistics ( <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/data/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/data/</a> )</li>
<li>Facts and health statistics about diabetes ( <a href="http://www.fhi.no/artikler/?id=70814" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.fhi.no/artikler/?id=70814</a> )</li>
<li>Paulin S et al. Economic burden of diabetes in Slovenia 2012. ( <a href="http://www.mz.gov.si/fileadmin/mz.gov.si/pageuploads/javno_zdravje_2015/breme_sladkorn%20e.docx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.mz.gov.si/fileadmin/mz.gov.si/pageuploads/javno_zdravje_2015/breme_sladkorn e.docx</a> )</li>
</ol>

Notes

Recipients of blood sugar-lowering drugs do not represent all people with diabetes. Some diabetics manage their disease with non-drug measures such as diet and lifestyle changes. According to an expert assessment, the proportion of people in Slovenia who manage their diabetes only with non-pharmacological measures is around 15%.

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