What’s New
An updated version of the Diabetes Prevalence by Alberta Community figure is now available.
The Alberta Diabetes Atlas 2011 provides updated information on the number of people living with diabetes in Alberta, their related health conditions, and the health services they use. In the 2011 edition, you will find two additional chapters: 'Use of Indicated Laboratory Testing among People with Diabetes in Alberta' and 'Gestational Diabetes in Alberta'.
The ADSS interactive website is now available here: https://www.interactiveadss.ualberta.ca
This is a tool that can be used to generate timely information about diabetes in Alberta.
For a short introduction to the website, please click on the YouTube link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOVJWukWEjc
The latest ADSS Newsletter, released in February 2011, highlights recent Diabetes Trends in Alberta.
About the Alberta Diabetes
Surveillance System
As a key component of the Alberta Diabetes Strategy 2003-2013, the Alberta
Diabetes Surveillance System (ADSS) was created in order to disseminate
information on the incidence, prevalence and mortality of diabetes and
its complications and comorbidities in Alberta. The Institute of Health
Economics (IHE) and ACHORD are working closely with the Population Health
Strategies and Surveillance Branches to produce this timely, comprehensive,
standardized database for diabetes surveillance in Alberta. The ADSS is
lead by Dr. Johnson and other ACHORD Investigators in addition to a number
of collaborators from across Alberta with clinical and research backgrounds.
The ADSS will build on the National Diabetes Surveillance System, which
all provinces and territories already participate in. The ADSS would enhance
that basic activity to produce an Alberta Diabetes Atlas, as well as an
interactive website that would provide more timely information to health
regions. The Atlas would report on diabetes patterns as well as compare
health care utilization for people with and without diabetes in Alberta.
Specific comorbidities and complications that will be reported on include
diabetes and cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, mental health and
eye disease. This information could then be compared across health regions
and provide a population health perspective on the overall care and management
of diabetes within the province. The Alberta Diabetes Atlas will be produced
every two years, with the first released in spring 2007.
The ADSS will provide a measurement system against which many of the objectives
of the Alberta Diabetes Strategy can be assessed. The establishment of
the ADSS is just another way that the ACHORD group continues to collaborate
with policy decision makers to ensure the translation of research into
enhanced quality of care for individuals with diabetes in Alberta.
International Diabetes Surveillance
Rates of diabetes are increasing world-wide, especially in developed Westernized countries, and quantifying the diabetes burden in a descriptive epidemiological fashion is often the first step to understanding the determinants of the disease from a population-based perspective. Diabetes surveillance is important in order to:
- Monitor trends in diabetes indicators (including diabetes-related risk factors and complications) over time;
- Assess the public health burden of diabetes;
- Identify high risk groups;
- Assist in the development of targeted health promotion strategies;
- Assist in the formulation of targeted health care policy;
- Evaluate the progress in prevention and management of diabetes and diabetes-related complications.
Below are some links to different websites from North America, including Canada, that have surveillance systems or registries in place to monitor the increase of diabetes and its complications. Stay tuned for other international diabetes surveillance websites that will be added to this list:
Canada
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/ccdpc-cpcmc/diabetes-diabete/english/ndss/index.html
United States
http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/statistics
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