An audit of weight reduction in a diabetic clinic.

A group of long-term attenders at a diabetic outpatient clinic were compared with new patients who were referred for the first time by their own general practitioners. There was some evidence that first attenders, especially women, appear to lose weight significantly over the subsequent three years, such weight loss being more marked when the diet therapy is also combined with a re-organisation of their attendances over a month, to provide education both to the patients and to the relatives. This preliminary information suggests that the development of patient self-sufficiency programmes in diabetes in the New Zealand setting appears to have economic justification.