Effects of long term health education on diabetic complications

Abstract

Objective To study the effect of long term health education on diabetic complications.Methods In this prospective study,260 patients with diabetes were recruited.All the patients were divided into intensive health education group (intervention group,n =130) and control group (n =130).Patients in both group were given routine treatment of diabetes and health education,while patients and their family members in intervention group were given systemic,individual,one-on-one instruction and behavior intervention.At the beginning and five years after the study,collected related data to evaluate the metabolic changes and the development of diabetic complications.Results Five years after the intervention,body mass index(BMI),fast blood glucose (FBG),postprandial 2 h blood glucose (2 hPBG),hemoglobulin A1c ( HbA1c),total cholesterol ( TC ),triglyceride (TG) and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) in the intervention group were lower than the corresponding index in the control group(P ＜ 0.05 ).Compared with the control group,the incidence of hypertension,diabetic retinopathy,diabetic nephropathy,diabetic neuropathy,diabetic cerebral infarction,diabetic heart disease and diabetic foot in the intervention group were 3.7％,3.9％,8.8％,8.8％,1.96％,1.96％,0.1％,while the incidence of the complications in the control group were 33％,15.1％,23％,28％,9％,9％,9％,the difference had statistically significant(P ＜0.05).Conclusions The long term systemic and individual health education can improve glucose and lipid metabolism.It also can reduce or delay the occurrence and development of diabetic complications. Key words: Diabetes mellitus; Health education; Diabetic complications