As a key component of the Alberta Diabetes Strategy 2003-2013, the Alberta Diabetes Surveillance System (ADSS) was created in order to disseminate information on the incidence, prevalence and mortality of diabetes and its complications and comorbidities in Alberta. The Institute of Health Economics (IHE) and ACHORD are working closely with the Population Health Strategies and Surveillance Branches to produce this timely, comprehensive, standardized database for diabetes surveillance in Alberta. The ADSS is lead by Dr. Johnson and other ACHORD Investigators in addition to a number of collaborators from across Alberta with clinical and research backgrounds.
The ADSS will build on the National Diabetes Surveillance System, which all provinces and territories already participate in. The ADSS would enhance that basic activity to produce an Alberta Diabetes Atlas, as well as an interactive website that would provide more timely information to health regions. The Atlas would report on diabetes patterns as well as compare health care utilization for people with and without diabetes in Alberta. Specific comorbidities and complications that will be reported on include diabetes and cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, mental health and eye disease. This information could then be compared across health regions and provide a population health perspective on the overall care and management of diabetes within the province. The Alberta Diabetes Atlas will be produced every two years, with the first one to be released in spring 2007.

The ADSS will provide a measurement system against which many of the objectives of the Alberta Diabetes Strategy can be assessed. The establishment of the ADSS is just another way that the ACHORD group continues to collaborate with policy decision makers to ensure the translation of research into enhanced quality of care for individuals with diabetes in Alberta.