Is the relationship between adherence behaviours and glycaemic control bi-directional at adolescence? A longitudinal cohort study.

Aim: To analyse the change in adherence to diabetes treatment and its association with metabolic control from childhood to adolescence. The Tanner pubertal staging model was selected as a marker of developmental maturity.

Methods: In a multicentre, longitudinal cohort study, 142 children with Type 1 diabetes completed a scale that assessed adherence to treatment and a test of diabetes knowledge at the beginning of the study (T0) and four years later (T4).

[The quality of life: should it be taken into account as a therapeutic objective?].

Traditionally, biomedical or clinical outcomes have been the main foci of attention in the care of the chronically ill, but efforts are now being made to measure other outcomes that derive from patient-reported experiences. In diabetes treatment and care, the situation has become particularly complex as rigid glycaemic control, now believed to be correlated with a reduced incidence of long-term complications, may not be compatible with a high level of quality of life. The acceptance of a linear relationship between levels of glycaemic control and relative risk of complications does not address the fact that quality of life has not been included as a variable in these analyses.

Cross-cultural validation of existing quality of life scales.

Health care has recently tended to take a more global perspective when considering the individual patient. In addition to a measure of functional status, the integration of the disease into the daily life of the individual, or his quality of life, is now being evaluated. This concept, while relatively recent, is the result, in part, of changes in attitudes towards diagnosis and treatment of patients, particularly those with chronic and severe diseases.

Prevalence of non-insulin dependent diabetes as perceived by general practitioners in France.

A representative, random sample of French general practitioners, reported the number of diabetic patients they treated in their practices. The resulting NIDDM prevalence rate for France was 1.71% (SE +/- 0.

Management of type 2 diabetes mellitus in France: attitudes and practices among a representative sample of general practitioners.

Purpose: Medical knowledge regarding chronic illness has increased in recent years. Critical gaps in our understanding of the educational factors necessary to change the clinical aspects of most diseases remain. The role of the general practitioner, the primary care provider, in the delivery of educational interventions has not been clearly defined.