Education level in elderly diabetic subjects

Objective The education of diabetic subjects has been the object of numerou s studies which have demonstrated its importance as an integral part of tre atment. Few studies have focused on the particular problem of education in the elderly. Patients and Methods An inquiry was conducted in 60 elderly patients with d iabetes in order to assess their knowledge of the disease, comparing those who had received specific education and those who had not, and to determine the characteristic features of patients who had received education. A spec ific questionnaire was designed for this study. The maximal score was 50. Results Mean age of the 60 patients was 77 years (range 65-94). Lack of kno wledge was most patent concerning acute metabolic decompensation with hypog lycemia an hyperglycemia and concerning foot care. Only one-third of the pa tients had received diabetic education. The average score in the educated g roup was 42 +/-0.4 versus 23 +/-7 in the non-educated group (p = 0.0001). T he best results were obtained in educated and younger patients. The inquiry showed that education had been distributed preferentially to the youngest patients, to men, and to patients treated with insulin. Conclusions Our findings demonstrate that elderly diabetics can benefit fro m an education program and prove a real insufficiency in current education of elderly diabetics. These results should also lead to further work on an educational tool specifically designed for elderly diabetics.