First European diabetes care study by think-tank

Sweden-based health care consultancy, Health Consumer Powerhouse, with sponsorship from global drug behemoth Pfizer, has published its first study of European diabetes care. Having previously ranked the UK poorly in overall access to drugs (Marketletter October 15, 2007) and found a strong western versus eastern European gap in cardiovascular care (Marketletter July 7), this report praises the UK for coming second in the survey of 29 countries, close behind Denmark and ahead of France and the Netherlands. However, the Baltic States compared well when a "bang for bucks" adjustment was made to account for wide variations in purchasing power across the European Union, plus Norway and Switzerland.

The key indicator identified by the HCP researchers was that "countries that do perform well are those who predominantly treat diabetes early in the health care chain." However, all surveyed countries could do better on prevention and by adopting each others' strong points, they concluded.