{"id":385265,"date":"2026-04-06T21:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T21:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/385265\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T21:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T21:02:09","slug":"women-with-diabetes-less-likely-to-get-preventive-care-raising-preventable-complication-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/385265\/","title":{"rendered":"Women With Diabetes Less Likely to Get Preventive Care, Raising Preventable Complication Risks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Women with diabetes<\/a> may be less likely to receive important preventive care, compared with their peers without this common condition, a new analysis has found.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/p>\n

\u201cThese findings are important because they show that women with diabetes are not getting the recommended well-woman care, which is essential to both managing their diabetes and their overall health,\u201d says senior author\u00a0Lauren Wisk, PhD<\/a>, an associate professor of medicine at UCLA Health in California.<\/p>\n

When those services \u2014 including cancer screenings and counseling about birth control and family planning \u2014 fall through the cracks, the effects may not be obvious right away. But over time, these missed opportunities can increase the risk of preventable complications, from delayed cancer diagnoses to higher-risk pregnancies that could have negative outcomes for both mom and baby, says Dr. Wisk.<\/p>\n

Diabetes Care May Overshadow Important Preventive Health Conversations<\/p>\n

To explore how having diabetes affects women\u2019s healthcare, researchers conducted a meta-analysis that combined the findings of many studies to determine common patterns. The meta-analysis included 44 studies of women between the ages of 15 and 49 who had type 1 or type 2 diabetes.<\/p>\n

Specifically, researchers compared how often women with diabetes received key preventive aspects of care, compared to women without it.<\/p>\n

The data revealed that these women were less likely to receive preventive care in nearly every category. For example, less than half of women with diabetes got birth control<\/a> counseling, compared to about 62 percent of women without it. They were also 10 to 20 percent less likely to get cervical cancer screening<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Women with diabetes received fertility and prepregnancy counseling at low and inconsistent rates \u2014 in some studies, as low as 1 percent. There wasn\u2019t enough data to make a clear comparison to women without diabetes.<\/p>\n

Researchers found no studies comparing sexually transmitted infection screening rates, highlighting a major gap in both care and research, wrote the authors.<\/p>\n

Taken together, experts say the findings are concerning, even if they\u2019re not entirely unexpected.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat stood out most is that despite these women having more frequent interactions with the healthcare system, they were still missing out on important preventive care \u2014 not just in one area, but across the board,\u201d says\u00a0Neha Narula, MD<\/a>, a clinical assistant professor and primary care doctor at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s at Stake for Women With Diabetes<\/p>\n

\u201cThis study doesn\u2019t highlight a small care gap \u2014 it has real consequences for women\u2019s health, with high-stakes downstream complications,\u201d says Dr. Narula, who wasn\u2019t involved in the study.<\/p>\n

For women with diabetes who are planning to get pregnant<\/a>, taking steps to be as healthy as possible is important for prenatal and postpartum outcomes, says\u00a0Marilyn Tan, MD<\/a>, an endocrinologist at Stanford Health Care in California, who wasn\u2019t involved in the latest study.<\/p>\n

Having diabetes that\u2019s not well managed can increase the risk of health problems for both mother and baby. These can include birth defects, stillbirth, and preterm birth, as well as an increased risk of having a cesarean (C-section) delivery.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/p>\n

Diabetes can also affect reproductive and sexual health, due to an increased risk of yeast infections and urinary tract infections.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/p>\n

Similarly, getting the recommended cancer screenings for diseases such as breast or cervical cancer also helps with early detection, timely treatment, and decreased risk of mortality, says Narula.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key point is that these are preventable risks,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Why These Gaps May Be Happening<\/p>\n

The fragmented U.S. healthcare system may be partly to blame, says Wisk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not especially good at care coordination. If one provider is focused on diabetes, someone else needs to be making sure preventive care is happening \u2014 and that doesn\u2019t always occur,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

In practice, many women with diabetes use their endocrinologist<\/a> as their primary care doctor, but those visits are typically focused on blood sugar, medications, and related conditions, says Dr. Tan. \u201cMost endocrinology offices are not able to or don\u2019t routinely provide contraception counseling or age-appropriate cancer screening,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Finally, some of these gaps may also reflect deeper disparities in access to care. The researchers note that groups at higher risk of diabetes \u2014 including younger adults, people with lower incomes, and many racial and ethnic minority populations \u2014 may also face more barriers to routine preventive services.<\/p>\n

As rates of type 2 diabetes rise in younger adults, these overlapping challenges can make it harder for some women to get the screenings and counseling they need, the authors wrote.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/p>\n

The Findings Have Some Limitations<\/p>\n

Many of the studies included in the analysis were small or conducted in a single setting, and some relied on patient recall, which introduces the possibility of errors.<\/p>\n

The findings show associations but cannot explain exactly why these care gaps exist. Future research should focus on improving care coordination and identifying when women are missing these preventive services, says Wisk.<\/p>\n

How Women With Diabetes Can Advocate for Their Care<\/p>\n

These findings are a good reminder that all people need preventive care, regardless of their medical issues, says Neha Vyas, MD<\/a>, an assistant clinical professor and primary care physician at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why it\u2019s so important to have a primary care doctor. Our bread and butter is prevention and preventive services,\u201d says Dr. Vyas, who wasn\u2019t involved in the study.<\/p>\n

Narula says that women with diabetes can take a more active role in making sure their preventive care isn\u2019t overlooked. She suggests the following:<\/p>\n

Ask specific questions about family planning and age-appropriate screenings.Stay informed about which preventive services you should be getting.Work with a trusted provider to keep track of what\u2019s due.Consider scheduling a separate wellness visit, especially for family planning and preventive care.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreventive care is essential and should not be a secondary priority to chronic conditions such as diabetes,\u201d says Narula.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Women with diabetes may be less likely to receive important preventive care, compared with their peers without this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[103,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-385265","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}