[Evaluation of the mental state of elderly diabetic patients in education]

Maintaining to good glycemic control is necessary to treat diabetes effectively and it is also necessary to understand the mental characteristics of elderly patients with diabetes. We investigated evaluation of the mental state, using self-depressive scale (SDS) and the Tokyo university egogram form (TEG), of 356 asymptomatic diabetic patients (254 non-elderly, 102 elderly) admitted for educational about diabetes. On TEG, we studied evaluation of five ego states for the following showing: critical parent (CP), nurturing parent (NP), adult (A), free child (FC) and adapted child (AC). First of all, we studied evaluation of mental characteristics of the elderly, NP and A of TEG were higher in the elderly than in the non-elderly (p < 0.01). Furthermore, the SDS was lower on discharge than on admission in both groups (p < 0.01). The group showing improvement had a significantly higher SDS score on admission than the group showing aggravation (p < 0.01). We classified the group with an SDS score 50 or more SDS as the depressed group; those with a 40 to 49 score as the slight distress group; and a score of 39 or less score was considered normal. The depressed group had significantly lower A and FC, and a higher AC on TEG, than other groups (p < 0.01). Therefore, elderly diabetic patients seem to be rational and obliging. This study revealed the mental effects of diabetic education to be similar in elderly and non-elderly diabetic patients.