Health care utilization and direct health care costs of diabetes in urban and rural Saskatchewan, 1991-2001

The ACHORD NET grant is sponsored by the Canadian Diabetes Association, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, The Kidney Foundation of Canada, the CIHR – Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes and the CIHR – Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health. [...] While the number of visits to general practitioners was similar across the three locations of residence, individuals who resided in large urban centres had more specialist visits on average: in 2001, individuals in large urban centres had 3.1 visits compared to 1.5 visits for those in rural areas. [...] Shortages of medical resources and personnel and a lack of specialized services in rural areas may threaten quality of care and the ability of the rural population to access needed services (Touati 2004). [...] Further, access issues may decrease the utilization of some categories of health care services in rural areas, while the age and health of the rural population may demand greater consumption of resources in other categories where access is less problematic. [...] The subject’s diabetes index date was the date of hospital discharge for diabetes or the date of the first physician visit that qualified the subject.