Elderly subjects with type 2 diabetes show altered tissue electrical properties.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present research was to show the characteristics of body composition in a sample of elderly subjects with type 2 diabetes compared with healthy controls matched by age and body mass index (BMI) by bioelectrical impedance vector analysis. METHODS: The sample consisted of 144 free-living patients (84 women and 60 men) with type 2 diabetes 60 to 84 y old and 209 age-matched controls (116 women and 93 men). Anthropometric measurements (weight; height; upper arm, hip, waist, and calf circumferences; biceps; triceps; and subscapular and suprailiac skinfolds) were taken. Blood samples for the assessment of plasma glucose and glycated hemoglobin were collected. The BMI, upper arm muscular area, and waist-to-hip ratio were calculated. Bioelectrical impedance vector analysis was applied. The analysis was performed in the entire diabetic sample and the healthy BMI-matched groups. RESULTS: Compared with healthy subjects, patients had greater weight (P < 0.01 in women), higher BMI (P < 0.01 in women), smaller muscular area (P < 0.01 in men), and thicker skinfolds (P < 0.01 in women and men). Female and male patients showed larger phase angles (P < 0.01). Moreover, female patients showed a shorter vector length and lower resistance (P < 0.01) and male patients showed a higher reactance (P < 0.01). The BMI-matched analysis confirmed that patients were characterized by larger phase angles. CONCLUSIONS: Older patients with type 2 diabetes were characterized by peculiar anthropometric and bioelectrical patterns, which can be related to their smaller appendicular muscular area and lower extracellular/intracellular water ratio.

The narrative-autobiographical approach in the group education of adolescents with diabetes: a qualitative research on its effects.

OBJECTIVE: To introduce a narrative-autobiographical approach in the care and education of adolescents with type-1 diabetes and observe the effects of this novel approach on adolescents' self-awareness, concern for self-care, and well-being. METHODS: Ninety-four adolescents with type-1 diabetes attending one 9-day summer camp in 2004, 2005, or 2006 participated in structured daily self-writing proposals on diabetes, integrated with daily interactive self-management education. After some months, we sent participants interview-like questionnaires, and two independent researchers performed a qualitative analysis of the 50 answers that were mailed back. RESULTS: Writing about the discovery of diabetes was, for many, a stressful experience, but with a strong liberating effect. One relevant point was change, which occurred: (a) in the perception of self; (b) in the relationship with others; (c) in the relationship with the disease. CONCLUSIONS: The integration of autobiography in diabetes camps, by adding the value of sharing individual stories to the liberating power of self-writing, can allow the adolescents to overcome their feelings of diversity, and can initiate several changes reflecting increased self-efficacy, maturity, acceptance of the disease and responsibility in self-management. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Self-writing is feasible and well accepted, and provides healthcare professionals a proper way to patient-centered care.

Somatotype in elderly type 2 diabetes patients.

Somatotyping is a practical technique for the description of physique. Individuals with Type 2 diabetes are characterized by physical peculiarities, such as overweight, obesity and a central pattern of body fat distribution. Somatotype applications to diabetes are limited. The objective of this study is to describe the somatotype of elderly type 2 diabetes patients. The sample consisted of 110 patients with type 2 diabetes (45 men, mean age 69.4 +/- 7.0 years; 65 women, mean age 72.9 +/- 7.1 years). The pathological subjects were compared with a control group consisting of 280 healthy individuals (134 men, mean age 74.2 +/- 7.3 years; 146 women, mean age 74.9 +/- 7.4 years). The Heath-Carter somatotype was applied. Diabetic men and women (mean somatotype, respectively: 6.8-5.6-0.6 and 8.6-6.4-0.2) presented significantly higher values of endomorphy than the controls (p = 0.043 in men, p = 0.003 in women); men also had a lower mesomorphic component (p = 0.000). The somatotype method revealed physical peculiarities in type 2 diabetes patients. The marked endomorphy in the pathological individuals can be related to general fatness, which is a well known disease risk factor. The somatotype appears to be a suitable technique for the assessment of physique in type 2 diabetes patients.