Effect of patient education through a social network in young patients with type I diabetes in a Sub-Saharan context.

BACKGROUND: Patient education is essential in management of type I diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the short-term impact of patient education through WhatsApp on the knowledge of the disease and glycemic control of adolescents and young adults living with Type 1 diabetes in a resource-limited setting.

METHODS: A double arm non-randomized clinical trial was carried out in two clinics for diabetes in Cameroon, over a period of two months. The intervention consisted in providing four sessions of patient education through WhatsApp to an intervention group compared to a control group with their classic follow up. We evaluate their knowledge on diabetes, acute events and glycemic control, before and after intervention.

RESULTS: We recruited 54 patients of which 25 subjects and 29 controls. Median age was 19[17-20] and 19[17-21] years for the intervention and control group respectively. There was a significant improvement of knowledge on diabetes in the intervention group from 13/20 to 16/20 (p<0.01) after two months, compared to a slight decrease in control group (from 11.6/20 to 11.3/20 (p=0.33). The mean proportion of acute complications decreased from 28% to 16% (p=0.46) in the intervention group, and increased from 7% to 34%, p=0.01 in the control group. There was no improvement in HbA1c level in both groups.

CONCLUSION: Patient education through social network helped to improve knowledge on type 1 diabetes and to reduce acute complications without an improvement of glycemic control after two months. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.