Aim: The aim of therapeutic education includes improvement of quality of life (QOL). However, the majority of studies are focused on biomedical or behavioural markers only. We performed a prospective study to assess QOL in adult type 1 diabetic patients for one year following a hospital educational programme.
Methods: During this prospective single-centre study, QOL was assessed by the DQOL questionnaire in 77 consecutive patients at baseline and three, six and 12 months after a three-day educational programme.
Results: The rate of response was 72.7% (n=55) at three months and 67.5% (n=52) at one year. The overall DQOL score improved at three months from 65.6+/-10.1 to 70.1+/-10.4 (P<0.001), and at one year from 65.1+/-10.4 to 68.5+/-11.7 (P=0.001). Patients exhibited greater satisfaction (66.3+/-15 versus 75.3+/-14.1, P<0.001), a diminished impact of diabetes (61.2+/-10 versus 63.4+/-9.6, P=0.016) as well as of anxiety related to diabetes (67.6+/-18.6 versus 73.6+/-16.2, P=0.009) at three months. This significant improvement was maintained at one year. Improvement in DQOL score at three months was positively correlated with a reduction in HbA(1c) (7.6+/-1.4% versus 7.8+/-1.4%, P=0.032), (r=-0.293, P<0.037). Patients with serious hypoglycaemia before the programme appeared to derive greater benefit from therapeutic education (OR: 9.88, 95% CI: 1.094-89.20).
Conclusion: QOL assessed by DQOL improved after therapeutic education and during the following year. The improvement in DQOL score at three months correlated with a reduction in HbA(1c) levels and appeared to particularly benefit to those who had severe hypoglycaemia before the programme.