Effects of diabetes education program on metabolic control among Saudi type 2 diabetic patients

Objective: To assess the effect of the 5-days intensive diabetes health education program on metabolic control among Saudi type 2 diabetic patients. Methodology: The study included 438 individuals, 158(36.1%) females and 280(63.9%) males with type 2 diabetes. All patients completed the 5-days diabetes education program. They did not require any change in their current therapy regimen, had not previously participated in any diabetes education programs, Saudi patients, of both genders, non-pregnant and older than 30 years. They were followed for one year after attending a 5-days structured education program conducted at University Diabetes Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Data were collected for each individual before attending the program, three months later, and one year after completion of the program. Results: After one year, all metabolic parameters had improved significantly (P 0.0001) except for high density lipoprotein(HDL) (P =0.097) as follows: body weight (mean ± SD) 78.72 ± 13.77 to 78.11 ± 13.33 Kg; systolic blood pressure 137.69 ± 15.56 to 129.5 ± 15.09 mmHg; diastolic blood pressure 77.27 ± 8.11 to 72.9 ± 7.30 mmHg; fasting blood sugar 10 ± 2.62 to 8.19 ± 2.04 mmol/l; HbA1c 8.78% ± 1.78% to 7.87% ± 1.56% ; triglycerides 1.98 ± 0.9 to 1.51 ± 0.67 mmol/l; total cholesterol 4.77 ± 0.83 to 3.9 ± 0.83mmol/l; low density lipoprotein 2.71 ± 0.66 to 2.15 ± 0.59mmol/l, and high density lipoprotein improved by an increase from 1.28 ± 0.4 to 1.31 ± 0.24 mmol/l. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that intensive education program provided by a trained professional healthcare team is an effective approach and reinforces the need for implementing such education program as an essential part for metabolic control among diabetic patients.