Diabetes is dramatically increasing worldwide. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC, 2008) reports that in the United States, nearly 24 million individuals (~8%) have diabetes. This is an increase of 3 million people in the past 2 years. The CDC, other public health agencies, and service organizations are striving to find ways to reduce the incidence, minimize the complications, and reduce death rates related to diabetes.

This column describes 4 research studies that investigated an important part of diabetes management: interactions between service providers and patients. The first write-up describes a review article that examined interventions geared toward improving management in socially disadvantaged groups. The 3 subsequent write-ups describe investigations examining various aspects of patient-provider interactions that influence diabetes or hypertension management. For additional details about the interventions and study findings, we suggest that our readers review the original articles.

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