Adesão à dieta mediterrânica e controlo metabólico em idosos com diabetes Mellitus tipo 2

Abstract

The Mediterranen Diet has been associated with a better quality of life and health status. There are many studies demonstrating several benefits of this food pattern, being intrinsically associated with high longevity and low cardiovascular diseases rates, as well as with overall lower mortality and morbidity rates. Further, scientific evidence has demonstrated benefits regarding chronic diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure (hypertension), obesity, neurodegenerative diseases and certain types of cancer. The elderly people is the most affected by chronic diseases, like type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM2), whose progression has a high impact on their quality of life. This study aimed to estimate the association between the metabolic control of an elderly diabetic patients’ sample, followed in Diabetes care visits of the Centro Hospitalar do Baixo Vouga, E.P.E., and the adherence to the Mediterranean Diet. It was designed an observational cross-sectional study whose data collection was based on the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener tool (MEDAS). Eighty-two patients (34 female and 48 male), with a mean age of 73.7 years, participated in the study. There were no significant gender differences regarding average weight and waist circumference, which was above the cutoff point for the definition of very high risk of metabolic complications. It was found that the average body mass index (BMI) was in the class of obesity for both genders, and only 27.1% of men and 8.8% of women had BMI values compatible with normal weight. The average values for glycated hemoglobin and fasting glucose, either for men and women, and the mean value of triglycerides for women were higher than reference values The most prevalent comorbidities in this sample were hypertension (72.0%), dyslipidemia (70.7%) and they are also the only conditions for which significant differences in their prevalence were observed for men and women (HTA: 62.5% vs. 85.3 %, p = 0.024; dyslipidemia: 58.3% vs. 88.2%, p=0.003). Concerning the adherence to the Mediterranean Diet, only 18.3% of participants were classified as having a "good adherence". In this work it wasn't observed any association between adherence to Mediterranean diet and nutritional status neither the presence of comorbidities. Regarding the association between this dietary pattern and biochemical parameters, we only found association between the HDL plasma concentration and the Mediterranean Diet, being its concentration significantly higher among subjects classified as having "good adherence". This work suggests that diabetic Portuguese elders are not following a dietary pattern in consonance with the principles of the Mediterranean Diet. So it would be important to develop programs that encourage elderly people to adhere to the Mediterranean Diet.

Date of Award	27 Apr 2016
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Ana Sofia Pimenta (Supervisor) & Elisabete Pinto (Co-Supervisor)