EFFECT OF WAR-INDUCED PROLONGED STRESS ON CORTISOL OF PERSONS WITH TYPE-II DIABETES-MELLITUS

The study way designed to assess the impact of protracted, war-induced stress on cortisol levels and glycemic control in persons with Type I I diabetes mellitus. A randomly selected sample of 44 displaced Type I I diabetic persons way compared with a group of diabetic persons match ed for sex, age, weight, duration of diabetes, and type of treatment w ho had not been forced to leave their homes. The self-reported stress, depression level, serum cortisol, fasting blood glucose, and glycosyl ated hemoglobin were compared. The two groups were found to be signifi cantly different in scores for self-reported stress and depression lev el. Passive coping patterns prevailed in the displaced group. The seru m cortisol levels correlated positively with self-reported stress, neg atively with active coping patterns, and were significantly higher in the displaced persons group. No significant differences were found bet ween the group on the variables measuring glycemic control. The result s indicate that prolonged stress need not worsen glycemic control in T ype II diabetic patients.