A stress-free life can help people manage their diabetes better. Nearly 55% of women with type 2 diabetes had high levels of diabetes-related distress compared to men, noted a study done by M.V. Hospital for Diabetes, Royapuram, and the Prof. M. Viswanathan Diabetes Research Centre.
Elaborating on the findings on Thursday, Vijay Viswanathan, head and chief diabetologist of the hospital, said about 400 people with type 2 diabetes, aged between 25 and 65 years, who visited clinics in Chennai, were surveyed. The study used diabetes distress scale-17 and an interpreting score of less than two as little or no distress and above three as high level of stress. It was found that women had high distress with a mean score of 2.79 compared to men with 1.62. Nearly 22.5% of men were screened with high-level stress. “We studied people under four distress domains — emotional burden, physician-related distress, regimen-related distress and interpersonal distress. Among the domains, women showed high levels particularly in the emotional burden domain,” he said.
It was also found that there was a correlation between diabetes-related stress and glycemic control. Those with high levels of stress often had poor control over blood sugar levels, Dr. Viswanathan said. As it was imperative to address the issue, the hospital launched the concept ‘Diabetes self-management education and support’ in its facilities in Royapuram, Velachery and Adyar.
Empowering people
This would be more of a structured concept with a separate team comprising a counsellor, dietician and nurse to deal with the patients. They would be empowered to manage their diabetes. ‘Healthy mind in diabetes’ clinics were also launched to provide free counselling to patients, he added. Guidelines of the European Association for Study of Diabetes and the American Diabetes Association was modified to suit patients here.
Madhuri Menon, dean, the Banyan Academy of Leadership in Mental Health, launched the concept and said such initiatives were essential to promote self-management of diabetes among people.