Perceived psychological stress in diabetes mellitus type 2

We studied the factors associated with perceived psychosocial stress in pat ients with diabetes mellitus type 2. A cross-sectional study was carried ou t in 105 patients (27 men and 78 women) with a mean age of 51.6 (50.2-52.5, 95% CI) years and 8.6 (7.3-9.8, 95% CI) years since diagnosis. The patient s were overweight with body mass index (BMI) of 27.6, and most of them had deficient metabolic control (mean glucose of 10.6 nmol/L and HbA(1c) of 9.2 %). Glycated hemoglobin was associated with BMI (negatively, p = 0.002), wi th adherence to diet (negatively, p = 0.027) and with years since diagnosis (p = 0.031). The association with BMI was found only in women. It was expl ained by the fact that obese women had fewer years since diagnosis, and rec ently diagnosed patients have a better metabolic control. A stepwise multip le regression analysis show perceived stress associated with percent body f at and blood glucose in the fetal group, with years since diagnosis in wome n (p = 0.02), and with BMI in men (p = 0.03). No association was found betw een perceived stress and adherence to treatment. We concluded that in our g roup, perceived stress was associated with obesity and metabolic control.