Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #116044

Robert Federici, MSPH¹, Gary Harmon, MPH¹, Keith Ashby, MD², Emily Hoole, MPA³, Wendy Roy³, Danny Jackson, Pharm D⁴, Larry S. Webber, PhD¹, and John Lefante, PhD¹. (1) Department of Biostatistics, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1440 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70112-2715, 504-988-2115, rfederic@tulane.edu, (2) Tulane University and LSUHSC-HCSD, Huey P. Long Medical Center, 352Hospital Blvd., Pineville, LA 71361, (3) The Rapides Foundation, 1101 Fourth Street, Suite 300, Alexandria, LA 71301, (4) LSUHSC-HCSD, Huey P. Long Medical Center, 352 Hospital Blvd., Pineville, LA 71361

Through a partnership between the Rapides Foundation and the outpatient clinics at an LSUHSC-HCSD regional state hospital in Central Louisiana, the Cenla Medication Access Program (CMAP) provides prescription medications to residents who cannot afford them. Eligible participants must be at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines. This analysis follows 384 diabetics whose glucose levels were recorded from the 6-month period before enrollment in CMAP through the 6 month period after enrollment. There are 262 (68.2%) females, 197 (51.3%) African Americans, with an average age of 51.4 years. Mixed models for repeated measures were used to assess the change in glucose levels over time, adjusting for race, gender, time, and number of diagnoses. There was a significant (p<.0001) decrease in glucose levels from 228.0 mg/dl to 186.4 mg/dl. After adjusting for age and number of diagnoses, both race (p=.05) and gender (p=.01) were significant predictors, however, their interactions were not. Regardless of time, age, gender, and number of diagnoses, African Americans consistently had a 6.3 mg/dl higher glucose level compared to Caucasians and men had an 8.8 mg/dl higher glucose level compared to women. As a comparison, longitudinal change in glucose was assessed in 816 non-diabetics and their change was found to be non-significant (110.2 mg/dl to 111.0 mg/dl). Despite the fact that the diabetic's post-glucose levels are still considered moderately high, CMAP appears to have begun to lower these levels regardless of age, race, gender, and number of diagnoses.

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