A prospective study of quality of life in 77 type 1 diabetic patients 12 months after a hospital therapeutic educational programme.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of therapeutic education includes improvement of quality of life (QOL). However, the majority of studies are focused on biomedical or behavioural markers only. We performed a prospective study to assess QOL in adult type 1 diabetic patients for one year following a hospital educational programme.


METHODS
During this prospective single-centre study, QOL was assessed by the DQOL questionnaire in 77 consecutive patients at baseline and three, six and 12 months after a three-day educational programme.


RESULTS
The rate of response was 72.7% (n=55) at three months and 67.5% (n=52) at one year. The overall DQOL score improved at three months from 65.6+/-10.1 to 70.1+/-10.4 (P<0.001), and at one year from 65.1+/-10.4 to 68.5+/-11.7 (P=0.001). Patients exhibited greater satisfaction (66.3+/-15 versus 75.3+/-14.1, P<0.001), a diminished impact of diabetes (61.2+/-10 versus 63.4+/-9.6, P=0.016) as well as of anxiety related to diabetes (67.6+/-18.6 versus 73.6+/-16.2, P=0.009) at three months. This significant improvement was maintained at one year. Improvement in DQOL score at three months was positively correlated with a reduction in HbA(1c) (7.6+/-1.4% versus 7.8+/-1.4%, P=0.032), (r=-0.293, P<0.037). Patients with serious hypoglycaemia before the programme appeared to derive greater benefit from therapeutic education (OR: 9.88, 95% CI: 1.094-89.20).


CONCLUSIONS
QOL assessed by DQOL improved after therapeutic education and during the following year. The improvement in DQOL score at three months correlated with a reduction in HbA(1c) levels and appeared to particularly benefit to those who had severe hypoglycaemia before the programme.
Debaty
I
I
Department of Endocrinology, Grenoble University Hospital, Grenoble, France. idebaty@chu-grenoble.fr
Halimi
S
S
Quesada
J L
JL
Baudrant
M
M
Allenet
B
B
Benhamou
P Y
PY
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015190:Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007003:Hypoglycemia / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin