• Anny A Quintana, José Manuel Merino, Pablo Merino R, and Juan Carlos Cea.
• Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile.
• Rev Med Chil. 2008 Aug 1; 136 (8): 100710141007-14.

BackgroundPatients' cultural orientations play an important role in chronic diseases. However, medical education research still does not emphasize these variables.AimTo measure the influence of psychosocial dimensions on blood glucose control in type 2 diabetic patients.Subjects And MethodsCase-control design. Data were collected from institutional records and structured interviews. Blood glucose control was tested using glycosylated hemoglobin A1C. Patients with a good metabolic profile defined as a glycosylated hemoglobin of less than 7% were considered cases while those with a glycosylated hemoglobin >7% were labeled as controls. Sixty seven cases and 61 controls were randomly selected at a public health center located in Los Angeles, Chile. Socio-demographic, illness-related, and psychosocial variables were measured and multiple modeling using logistic regression was performed.ResultsSeventy per cent of patients were female, mean age was 61 years, 57% were housewives and most had a low income and educational level. The cultural predictors of metabolic control of diabetes were the perception of obstacles for blood glucose control, attribution of health benefits to a good control, family support and bonding quality with the health team.ConclusionsCultural variables play a significant role in metabolic control of diabetic patients and must be born in mind in educational campaigns.

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