Abstract
Background: Individuals with diabetes frequently have comorbid health conditions and suffer longer term complications. The control of blood glucose relies on diabetes management/self-care behaviors. Poor glycemic control, commonly encountered in underserved populations with type 2 diabetes (T2D) often results from inadequate diabetes self-care activities and/or perception. We aimed to assess the association between diabetes self-care activities/perception and glycemic control in adult Puerto Rican residents with T2D. Design and methods: We used a cross-sectional study design; our sample population was 260 individuals aged 40–65 years with T2D. We asked participants about their diabetes self-care over 8 weeks. High fasting blood glucose (≥130 mg/dL) and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c; ≥7%) measures were defined. We estimated the strength of the following associations using logistic regression: each of three self-care activities and fasting glucose or HbA1c, adjusting for confounders. Results: Nearly 27% of the participants reported not checking their glucose levels, 7% did not take their medications as prescribed and 31% perceived their diabetes self-care as poor. Participants with less education perceived their diabetes self-care as poor more often than their counterparts (44% vs 25%; p = 0.003). Most participants had high glycemic levels (60%) or hbA1c levels (65%). Participants who perceived their diabetes self-care as poor had higher HbA1c levels than their counterparts (adj. odds ratio: 2.14, 95% CI (1.13, 4.08)). Conclusion: Poor diabetes self-care perception, possibly related to less education, likely explains poor glycemic control among adult Puerto Rican residents with T2D.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Journal of Public Health Research |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors acknowledge the sponsors, the National Institute of Dental and from the Craniofacial Research (NIDCR, K23 DE025313) and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS, U54GM133807) National Institute of Health, which funds the Hispanic Alliance for Clinical and Translational Research. The authors also acknowledge the LLIPDS team (Dr. Francisco Jiménez, Mr. Francisco Muñoz-Torres, Mr. Abdiel Castillo, Ms. Claudia Díaz, Mr. Alexis Acevedo, Ms. Patricia Serrano, and all who participated in the study), the Alliance (formerly PRCTRC) personnel, who contributed to the conduct/oversight/planning of data collection of the study (administrative and regulatory affairs: Ms. Antonia Ortiz, Ms. Ivette Molina, and Ms. Adelma Rivera; nurses: Ms. Bárbara Guzmán, Ms. Sheyla Garced, Ms. Ladimila De Lima, and Mr. Robert Pinder; laboratory work: Mrs. Nilda González and Ms. Carola López-Cepero). The authors also acknowledge the Puerto Rico Diabetes Center, COSSMA, and all participants, who contributed to and participated in the study. They would also like to thank Stephen Campbell, who has edited their work.
Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was fully supported by Award K23 DE025313-05 from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), partially supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) grant U54MD007587, which funded the former Puerto Rico Clinical and Translational Research Consortium (PRCTRC now is called ALLIANCE). Non-financial support was provided for the statistical analysis by The Hispanic Alliance for Clinical and Translational Research (ALLIANCE) (Award Number U54GM133807). The content of the research study is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.
Keywords
- Diabetes mellitus
- glycemic control
- monitory health
- perception
- self-care
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
