The influence of an educational program on the HbA(1c)-level of adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus: a retrospective study

Objectives: Adherence to diabetes management tasks in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients deteriorates during puberty. This causes glycemic dysregulation, which accelerates the development of long-term complications.

Methods: The data of 25 poorly regulated T1DM-patients were compared before and 3 and 9 months after a psycho-educational program. Data were extracted from patient's records. The psycho-educational program consisted of three sessions for the patients and one for the parents in a 3-month period.

Results: HbA(1c)-levels at baseline (10.0 +/- 0.72%), decreased by 0.65% after 9 months follow-up (p = 0.08). A subgroup of 15 patients showed a clinical significant HbA(1c)-reduction of = 0.5% at 9 months follow-up (subgroup A), with a mean reduction of 1.6%.

Conclusions: These encouraging results show that a psycho-educational program can be of benefit in improving HbA(1c) levels in poorly regulated adolescents with T1DM. More research with a larger population is necessary to evaluate the value of psycho-educational programs in this age-group.