Abstract

PEREZ MARTINEZ, Víctor T.. The diabetes elderly and its adaptive response to disease. Rev Cubana Med Gen Integr [online]. 2010, vol.26, n.2. ISSN 0864-2125.

The diabetes mellitus is the fifth disease more frequent in old age and one of the entities generating more psychological and behavioral requests by patient, since most of its management is handled by itself. In diabetic patient, quality of life is related to the metabolic control, which in it turn depends of multiple psychosocial and behavioral factors. In elderly patient, in particular at the depression, the anxiety and feelings of defencelessness are added the fairs due its diabetic status, lapsing negatively in its psychic state and provoking a metabolic lack of control. Thus, it is necessary the study of the adaptive response to disease in this population segment, allowing to identify early the risky habits and behaviors that may to interfere with the appropriate treatment fulfillment of and the metabolic control. There are some areas related to the adaptive response: the perception of disease severity, its psychological repercussion, associate nuisances, barriers for treatment fulfillment and the health behavior. Among the factors able to modify the expression of such response are included: old age, cognitive deterioration, comorbid process, functional ability deterioration, depression and social support. The study of the adaptive response to diabetes is a challenge for those interested in this subject matter and a unpostponable to understand the human behavior role in health-disease process and to improve the health practices.

Keywords : Diabetes mellitus; old age; adaptive response; quality of life; metabolic control.

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