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Perception linked to reality in diabetes health, study finds

DCUK NewsBot

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People's perception of living with diabetes may affect the impact the condition has on them, a study has found. A survey has discovered people's "meaning" of their diabetes directly affects their risk of getting poor cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes, including HbA1c and blood pressure. A total of 302 adults with type 2 diabetes participated in a questionnaire evaluating their appraisal of illness, as well as their ability to cope with the condition. They were recruited from primary care clinics at a Veterans Affairs Medical Centre in the US in 2004. The questionnaire items were rated on a seven-point scale, ranging from "not at all" to "definitely yes". The primary outcomes of the study were CVD risk factors which were evaluated by HbA1c, systolic and diastolic blood pressure and low-density lipoprotein (LDL). The research was led by Professor Leonard E. Egede, Professor of Medicine in the division of general internal medicine and geriatrics at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Non-anticipated vulnerability was consistently associated with systolic blood pressure, researchers found. A degree of stress and change in commitments was also consistently correlated with LDL. The findings also discovered that positive feeling among the participants of being challenged and motivated were associated consistently with diastolic blood pressure. Researchers concluded: "These data confirm the importance of understanding the emotional state of those with diagnosed diabetes as a probable mediator of long-term health outcomes. "Future work should consider the influence of additional social determinants of health found to influence diabetes outcomes." The findings appear online in The Diabetes Educator.

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I am young, slim and beautiful.













How long do I have to wait for this to work?
 
Nah, it doesn't work. When I was diagnosed T2 I was convinced that it wouldn't be forever and that if I did a low cal diet for 8 weeks I would no longer be T2. I'm not falling for that mind over matter rubbish again.
 
zand said:
I am young, slim and beautiful.
How long do I have to wait for this to work?
Click to expand...

Lol, I don't actually mean in that sense

But surely any outcome will depend on how you perceive it? After a lifetime of listening to and believing my own negative self-talk, I know what a powerfully demotivating effect it has had on me.

I think illness is probably similar. If I'd told myself that diabetes was a life sentence, that I couldn't stand it, it was all too hard, I may as well just eat what I want and take drugs and get progressively worse (like a lot of HCPs like to tell people), I don't think I'd be too happy about where my diabetes would be now, 4 years later.

I'm glad I chose a different path than, for example, Molly's ex
 
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OK I'll try to be serious. So if we think the worst than that's what we get. If like me, we are positive at diagnosis and think we are going to get a cure then whilst we may not get what we hope for the outcome will still be better than if we thought 'Doomed, doomed we're all doomed'
 
NoCrbs4Me said:
Non-anticipated vulnerability? What's that?
Click to expand...
Ooooh I think I may have had that! (this is a serious post, honest)

When I was pregnant with my first born all was going well. I had no reason to expect anything other than a perfectly normal pregnancy and birth. At 30 weeks I suddenly had a placental abruption and needed an emergency Caesarean. Life changed for me then. If one really bad thing could happen to me without warning then so could a whole host of others. That would have raised my stress levels even more and then my BP and other health outcomes.
 
So T1s and slim T2s will have the non-anticipated vulnerability factor too. I knew there would be an advantage to being a fatty one day. I knew T2 was imminent. Could do **** all about it mind you as I didn't know about low carbing until it was too late. But then again those years of anticipated vulnerability can't have been good either? That would have brought on the 'doomed, we're all doomed' response.

In short, I don't think this was one of the better studies uncovered by MrNewsBot.
 
Agree! Their prose is so constipated I still don't get what the point was
 
The only news info in the OP is that they didn't know this already.

We all know people who have positive attitudes, who roll with the punches and who get up and keep going against the odds.
And we all know people who are floored by a mild setback and who seem to actively search out the negatives.
That is always going to impact on life, health and mindset (and blood pressure!).

I have found that supplementing Vit D last summer switched me from teetering on the brink of Doom And Gloom, to a much more Positively Perky Attitude, so mindset is fundamental to the person's approach, but that mindset can be hugely affected by issues such as diet and nutrition, stress, etc.
 
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