Elderly diabetics may be getting substandard care when they visit their doctors, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins University.

The researchers reviewed Medicare claims for patients receiving care at doctors' offices in Alabama, Iowa and Maryland from July 1990 through June 1991. According to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, they found many doctors were failing to order routine tests that help control diabetes.Combining data from all three states, they found that only 16.3 percent of the diabetics received a standard hemoglobin blood glucose test, 45.9 percent received a thorough eye exam and 55.1 percent got a total cholesterol test.

These are the three tests the American Diabetes Association recommends at least once a year to help control the disease and protect against common side effects like loss of vision and heart disease.

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In the three states surveyed, the study found doctors in Alabama least likely to order the tests.

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