4]; p=0.007) and in
CORE score (CORE score pre-counselling [mean ± SD] 1.60±0.71, post-counselling 0.89±0.57; p<0.001), suggesting a reduction in anxiety in these individuals about their diabetes. In this paper, we have evaluated a counselling service for people with type 1 diabetes, showing it to be associated with improvements in glycaemic control and reduction in anxiety (about risk of long-term diabetic complications). We believe that this is an effective intervention in helping individuals with type 1 diabetes to self-manage STA-9090 purchase their condition. There is increasing evidence that psychological morbidity, in the form of anxiety and depression, is associated with diabetes,2,3 although interventions that can help to alleviate these problems may have only small benefits
on measures of physical health such as glycaemic control.8 This has posed a problem in our unit, in that it is difficult to justify funding for psychological intervention without evidence in the literature of benefit to people with diabetes. Our service improvement project, using our own unit charitable funds, has demonstrated a benefit, not just in a reduction in patients’ anxiety about their presenting issues, but also in obtaining an improvement in glycaemic control, albeit a modest one. The literature suggests that there is an association between both depression9 and anxiety10 ERK inhibitor library with poor glycaemic control. We did not use a measure of depression, such as
the HADS (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) score used in other studies, but rather a specific measure of the patient’s feelings of anxiety and risk. It is therefore in keeping with the literature Meloxicam that a reduction in feelings of anxiety, as demonstrated by a lower CORE score, could be associated with better glycaemic control. As poor glycaemic control is associated with increased risk of microvascular and macrovascular complication in type 1 diabetes,11 this intervention to reduce anxiety, and thereby improve glycaemic control, has an important role in improving long-term health in patients with type 1 diabetes. There are limitations to this study of our service. This paper describes an evaluation of a real service, rather than a randomised controlled trial. People with type 1 diabetes were selected for referral by any member of the secondary care diabetes team, without specific referral criteria (although the counsellor has discussed this service at different times with members of the team). It is possible therefore that those referred to the service were the group who would benefit most, although the relatively small numbers of people who completed the counselling course preclude analysis of who may particularly benefit.