ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to analyse whether participation of spouses of patients with type-2 diabetes in a patient empowerment programme would result in improved metabolic control of diabetes. Values of glycated haemoglobin levels were used for the between-group comparisons. METHODS: This investigation was conducted as a cohort study in which 59 patients with type-2 diabetes participated. Follow-up data were checked after 12 months. We investigated the relative glycated haemoglobin levels, blood pressure, hypoglycaemia, hospitalisation, and weight at baseline and follow-up. The statistical analyses were performed using the software packages SPSS 10 and Epi Info 6. RESULTS: The studied group had an average duration of diabetes of 10.7 years (range 1.3-40.8 years) and an age of 64 years (range 40-79 years). The group accompanied by their spouses did show a significant reduction of the average glycated haemoglobin level from 1.51 to 1.28 (p = 0.0001). By contrast, the reduction of 0.03 in the group without spouses was not significant (p = 0.558). Looking at the relative risk, it turned out that patients without spouses have a 2.3 times higher risk of developing a worse metabolic control after one year than patients with spouses. The logistical regression supported this trend. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that the participation of spouses of patients with type-2 diabetes in a patient empowerment programme contributes to an improvement in blood glucose control.
