Education of diabetic patients - a one year experience

201 insulin-treated diabetic patients were followed upto 6 months and 1 year after a 5-day structured teaching program. There was a significant increase in overall quality of life (score 51 +/- 5.7 after 1 year versus 41 +/- 6.1 before education, P < 0.01), due to reduction in depression (P < 0.01) and anxiety (P < 0.001) and increase in well-being (P < 0.05). The metabolic control improved significantly - HbA(1c) fell from 9.1 +/- 1.5 to 8.0 +/- 1.1 and 7.8 +/- 1.3% after 6 months and 1 year, respectively, P < 0.05. The rate of severe hypoglycaemia decreased from 0.15 to 0.06 cas/pat/year after 1 year (P < 0.01). The incidence of diabetic ketoacidosis decreased from 0.30 to 0.14 cas/pat/year (P < 0.01). These results demonstrate that structured patient education improves the quality of life of diabetic patients and their metabolic control and significantly reduces the rate of acute complications. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.