Conference Coverage
DAWN2: Addressing emotional distress may improve diabetes self management
Key clinical point: Asking patients how their life is affected by diabetes may address emotional distress and improve self-management. Major...
ORLANDO – Nearly a decade after the results of the Diabetes Attitudes Wishes and Needs (DAWN) trial showed that the emotional health of patients with diabetes was not being adequately addressed, findings from the DAWN2 trial show that not much has changed in that regard.
Almost half of the more than 8,500 patients with diabetes who participated in the multinational DAWN2 trial reported experiencing emotional distress as a result of their diabetes, and 14% had likely clinical depression. The results also show that most patients with diabetes want to improve self-management, and that having a large social support network is associated with better psychosocial outcomes.
At the annual meeting of the American Association of Diabetes Educators, Martha Funnell, a certified diabetes educator, associate research scientist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a member of the advisory committee for the Novo Nordisk–sponsored DAWN trials, discussed the findings and their clinical implications.