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. 2023 Dec;28(14):1293-1306.
doi: 10.1177/13591053231164496. Epub 2023 Apr 21.

Adjusting to the "new normal": How were mental health and self-care affected in patients with diabetes mellitus 1 year into the COVID-19 crisis? A longitudinal study

Janine Alessi  1   2 , Eduarda Herscovitz Jaeger  2 , Giovana Berger de Oliveira  2 , Isadora Nunes Erthal  2 , Julia Belato Teixeira  2 , Gabriela Dlg Scherer  2 , Taíse Rosa de Carvalho  2 , Beatriz D Schaan  1   3 , Gabriela H Telo  2
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Adjusting to the "new normal": How were mental health and self-care affected in patients with diabetes mellitus 1 year into the COVID-19 crisis? A longitudinal study

Janine Alessi et al. J Health Psychol. 2023 Dec.

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the long-term effect of the pandemic on mental health and self-care parameters in patients with diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. After 18 months of pandemic, 118 participants remained in the study (mean age of 56.6 ± 13.4 years, 66.7% were women). We observed no change in the scores for mental health disorders screening. Regarding self-care, patients with type 1 diabetes showed an improvement in the adherence score compared to those found at the beginning of the pandemic (variation + 3.5 (-6.0 to +15.8) points, p = 0.02), and also compared to those with type 2 diabetes. Although the pandemic have negatively affected many people's mental health, especially in those with chronic diseases, our results show that patients with diabetes may have developed good coping and adaptive strategies to maintain diabetes control and symptom pattern of mental health disorders over the course of the pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19 outbreak; anxiety; depression; diabetes mellitus; treatment adherence.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flowchart of participants included.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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