Socioeconomic status and diabetes mellitus

The diabetic patient attending a charity clinic presents a multitude of social, economic, and medical factors that tend to make him a much different problem from the diabetic under private care. These charity patients are faced with extremely limited financial resources, are on the average in a lower intelligence group, and are often given rather superficial medical care. All too often, there is more interest in the urine or blood sugar than in the patient. Some of the measures employed to correct the more serious problems arediscussed briefly.