Fatores associados ao índice de massa corporal em portadores de diabetes mellitus / Factors associated to body mass index in people with diabetes mellitus

O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar a associação entre os aspectos socioeconômicos, clínicos e o Índice de Massa Corporal em portadores de Diabetes Mellitus. Foi realizado estudo descritivo e analítico de 100 pacientes com Diabetes Mellitus que frequentavam a Organização Não Governamental (ONG) "Casa do Diabético", em Belém - Pará, com aplicação de questionário de dados socioeconômicos e clínicos. A análise estatística foi realizada no programa BioEstat versão 5.0. A partir dos resultados constatou-se associação significativa entre os adultos (48,93 ± 7,97 anos) que utilizavam insulinoterapia plena (p = 0,003) e possuíam nível de escolaridade fundamental incompleto e superior (p = 0,004) com a classificação de Índice de Massa Corporal adequada. A insulinoterapia e o nível de escolaridade fundamental incompleto e superior foram associados ao Índice de Massa Corporal adequado, que contribui para avaliação dos métodos terapêuticos realizados pela ONG, assim como para elaboração de estratégias de tratamento viáveis à realidade do portador de Diabetes Mellitus.

Current study verifies the association between socio-economic aspects, clinic features and Body Mass Index in people with diabetes. The descriptive and analytic analysis was undertaken with 100 patients with diabetes who were attended by the NGO House of the Diabetic Patient in Belém PA Brazil, through a questionnaire featuring social, economic and clinical data. Statistics were analyzed with BioEstat 5.0. Results revealed a significant association among adults (48.93 ± 7.97 years) who used full insulin therapy (p=0.003) and incomplete primary schooling and higher education (p= 0.004) with adequate Body Mass Index. Insulin therapy and incomplete fundamental schooling and higher education were associated with the Body Mass Index which contributes towards the therapeutic methods by the NGO and for the elaboration of treatment strategies viable to the circumstances of the person with diabetes.

Impairment of color spatial vision in chronic alcoholism measured by psychophysical methods

We used psychophysical tests to evaluate spatial vision in 15 subjects with a clinical history of chronic alcoholism by measuring luminance contrast sensitivity and color discrimination. The subjects were initially subjected to clinical inquiry and ophthalmological exam. Subjects then performed psychophysical tests to measure spatial contrast thresholds using sine wave gratings of different spatial frequencies and contrasts and chromatic discrimination thresholds using the Mollon-Reffin test. For the analysis, subjects were divided into three groups according to age and compared with age-matched controls. Ten subjects had some degree of color vision loss, which was quite severe in seven cases. All subjects had normal luminance contrast sensitivity. The results suggest that color vision changes related to chronic alcoholism can occur in the absence of impairment of spatial luminance contrast sensitivity and thus is an important aspect to be considered in the clinical evaluation of this condition.