IQED : Initiative for Quality improvement and Epidemiology in Diabetes

Since 1988, Belgian multidisciplinary diabetes centers can enter into an agreement (also called a convention) with the National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (NIHDI). This convention aims to offer regular medical and educational follow-up as well as materials for self-regulation of glycemia to patients treated with insulin. Since 2001, hospitals with a convention must participate in a quality improvement initiative of data collection with the aim of improving diabetes care. For more info and publications, please visit the webpage.

STUDY POPULATION

IQED is a cross-sectional retrospective observational study, collecting data from individuals with type 1 and type 2 diabetes older than 16 years, followed up in specialized diabetes centers. Data are collected from more than 100 centers across Belgium, covering patient profile, drug treatment, risk factors for developing micro- and macrovascular diabetes complications, and prevalence of acute and chronic complications.
Each center is asked to complete a questionnaire of 10% of their total number of conventioned individuals with diabetes (with a minimum of 25 individuals with type 1 diabetes), using the data listed in their medical records. These are sent to Sciensano in a pseudonymized manner and weighted to the national population (100% sample). IQED assesses care against standards described in high-quality international guidelines (American Diabetes Association (ADA), the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) and the EASD's bundled guideline with the European Society of Cardiology (ESC)).
The IQED study - as well as the adult diabetes convention - targets adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D) with a complex insulin regimen. Patients on continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) were among the exclusion criteria for the IQED sample population from 2005 to 2014. Since July 2016, individuals with type 2 diabetes treated with up to 2 insulin injections per day are followed within the “Care Trajectories” (created in 2009) and no longer in the convention.

PARTNERS

CITATION

A. Lavens, R. Ekelson, K. Todorova, Group of experts IQED. Initiative for Quality improvement and Epidemiology in Diabetes. Brussels, Belgium : Sciensano ; 2024

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