Standards of Medical Care for Patients With Diabetes Mellitus: American Diabetes Association

D iabetes is a chronic illness that re-quires continuing medical care andpatient self-management education to prevent acute complications and to re-duce the risk of long-term complications. Diabetes care is complex and requires that many issues, beyond glycemic control, be addressed. A large body of evidence exists that supports a range of interventions to improve diabetes outcomes. These standards of care are intended to provide clinicians, patients, research-ers, payers, and other interested persons with the components of diabetes care, treatment goals, and tools to evaluate the quality of care. While individual prefer-ences, comorbidities, and other patient factors may require modification of goals, targets that are desirable for most patients with diabetes are provided. These stan-dards are not intended to preclude more extensive evaluation and management of the patient by other specialists as needed. For more detailed information, refer to