A Modified Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System to Assess Diabetes Self-management Behaviors and Diabetes Care in Monterrey Mexico: A Cross-sectional Study

Self-Care in Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

Self-care is essential for the prevention of complications in patients with diabetes, but several authors report that even with health education programs, the incidence of complications in patients with diabetes continues to increase.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to examine adherence to self-care strategies and the repercussions of adherence on the clinical profiles of individuals with type 2 diabetes.

METHODS

We performed a systematic review according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. We searched for related studies in 4 databases: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Latin American and Caribbean Health Science Literature (LILACS). We included observational studies in English and Portuguese that evaluated the effects of selfcare in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

RESULTS

The search resulted in the identification of 615 articles, of which 34 met all the inclusion criteria. General self-care was considered unsatisfactory. Physical exercise was classified as the self-care activity that was performed less frequently by individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus; adherence to medication was the most frequent behavior among volunteers.

CONCLUSION

The studies indicated poor adherence of the population to good self-care practices, reflected by the increase in complications related to DM.

Diabetes Self-Management Behaviors, Health Care Access, and Health Perception in Mexico-US Border States

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to describe diabetes self-management behaviors, diabetes health care access, and health perception for Mexican adults and Hispanics residing in the Mexico-US border region.

Methods

This study used data from the Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey diabetes items (n = 26) to assess characteristics of Hispanics in 4 Arizona border counties (n = 216) and cross-sectional data from a modified BRFSS in a convenience sample of adults residing in Monterrey, Mexico (n = 351). Data were analyzed for descriptive statistics with SPSS.

Results

The Mexico cohort was younger than the Arizona cohort (59.36 [11.5] vs 65.54 [11.1], respectively) and the mean length of time with type 2 diabetes was similar. Less than 10% (9.7%) of the Arizona cohort reported never monitoring blood glucose compared to 22.5% of the Mexico cohort. The mean (SD) number of times in the past 12 months the Mexico cohort saw their health care provider was 9.09 (6.8) vs 4.49 (8.3) for the Arizona cohort. Despite provider access, there were differences in self-management behaviors between the cohorts.

Conclusions

Due to environmental and policy factors in the Mexico-US border region, there continues to be a gap in evidence-based practice and uptake of self-management behaviors for adults with diabetes. Resources such as the BRFSS and shared practice guidelines would bridge this gap.