What are the barriers to medical care for patients with newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus?

Context: Few data are available describing factors that prevent patients with newly diagnosed diabetes from seeking medical care. To identify socioeconomic factors that act as barriers to healthcare among such patients. A community-wide diabetes screening programme. One hundred and eighteen patients with newly identified diabetes mellitus out of 1824 total screenings. Each newly identified person with diabetes was instructed to contact a physician for follow-up care. A follow-up survey was obtained from 89 (75%) subjects 9 +/- 7 months after diagnosis. Main outcome measure: Whether or not subjects had obtained follow-up care for their diabetes. Of seven variables examined, only lack of health insurance correctly predicted those patients who failed to seek medical care for their diabetes by multivariate analysis. Lack of health insurance coverage is the primary reason that patients with newly diagnosed diabetes fail to seek medical care.