[Evaluation of metabolic control in a summer camp for diabetic children (Villarcayo 1991)]

The relevance of the diabetological education in the treatment of diabetis mellitus must be a prioritary goal in order to reach a proper metabolic control and to avoid as much as possible both acute metabolic complications and long-term vascular and neurological complications, achieving thus a total integration of the diabetic patient in the society. We have monitored during 15 days a group of diabetic children with IDDM in a summer camp, assessing in all of them several clinical and biochemical parameters. The results have been statistically analyzed using the Student's test. After the stay in the summer camp, we observed a significant reduction in the total dose of insulin (p < 0.001) and in the number of hypoglycemias (p < 0.001) and an increase in the average levels of capillary glycemia at the end of the study period when compared with the beginning, with p < 0.001 (breakfast preprandial), p < 0.05 (lunch preprandial) and p < 0.01 (dinner and night preprandial). We did not observe any significant differences in the other parameters studied. In inclusion, the stay in the summer camp of this group had a positive effect, achieving a better metabolic control with lower doses of insulin.