2023-11-13 14:11:00
One in 4 people with type 1 diabetes and one in 5 with type 2 diabetes suffer from stress and anxiety, a condition which – according to an Australian study – can lead to depression, burnout and a complicated relationship with food and drugs, especially insulin. Based on these data, almost 1 million people with diabetes in Italy suffer from these complications. However, nearly half of these cases go undetected. For this reason, on the occasion of World Diabetes Day, whose theme is the prevention of the disease and its complications, Roche Diabetes Care launched the international social campaign ‘#ConnectingWhatCounts between diabetes and mental well-being’. The initiative – explains a note – aims to draw attention to the invisible aspects of living with diabetes, to the prejudices that are often at the basis of many psychological disorders and to the possibility of preventing and managing them through awareness, cross-collaboration discipline between specialists and education in the use of the most innovative technologies available today.
“In addition to being a very widespread pathology – states Massimo Balestri, General Manager of Roche Diabetes Care Italy – diabetes does not allow breaks. The impact it can have on the mental health of the people who live with it is a topic that is still too little discussed, for Roche Diabetes Care wanted to focus an awareness campaign on this topic. The objective is to help people talk about it, share their experiences, breaking down the stigma that revolves around the topic”.
As Dario Pitocco, director of the Diabetology Departmental Operational Unit, Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic Foundation-Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Rome, observes, “diabetes affects all aspects of the lives of the people who live with it. It is a chronic disease that is challenging to manage – he underlines – which requires constant monitoring and which can cause long-term complications if not adequately controlled, such as retinopathy, renal and cardiovascular pathologies. For this reason, to have therapeutic success it is essential not to look only at the clinical picture, but at the quality of overall life of the patient. Fortunately, today technology offers various solutions to simplify and improve the management of the disease.” For example, there are “sensors for continuous glucose monitoring, which allow constant knowledge of the blood sugar level. These can have a strong impact on the lives of people with diabetes, involving them as actors with an active role in treatment and prevention and promoting thus therapeutic adherence and better personalization in care”.
With a view to deepening the points of view and experiences of people with diabetes with respect to the most recent technological innovations, for a management of the pathology that is increasingly closer to daily needs, holistic and personalized – continues the note – thanks to the collaboration between Personalive and the patient associations in the diabetes field, the survey ‘Usability indicators of continuous glucose monitoring systems: the point of view of people with diabetes’ was conducted, carried out with the non-conditioning contribution of Roche Diabetes Care Italy. The aim was to investigate the perception of people with diabetes regarding their relationship with the various continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems, to take a snapshot of the Italian context. The data were presented in Florence at the XXIV National Congress of the Association of Diabetes Doctors (AMD).
“The results obtained from the survey – comments Balestri – confirmed the strong impact of continuous monitoring systems in the lives of people with diabetes and the importance of usability to ensure more sustainable and less invasive management of the disease. Roche Diabetes Care has been committed for over 40 years to offering innovative technological solutions developed on the basis of the needs of those living with diabetes and of all those involved in treatment, to bring concrete relief to the lives of people and their caregivers. This is why we believe it is important to put ourselves constantly listening to the needs of patients by supporting quality educational paths and promoting dialogue between the various interlocutors of the health system, so that every person with diabetes can have access to the most innovative technological solutions available and increasingly personalized models of care and management of the disease, fair and sustainable”.
In this regard, Guendalina Graffigna, full professor of consumer and health psychology, director of EngageMinds Hub, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Cremona, highlights that “technological evolution can be of great help to people with diabetes, allowing them to being able to constantly monitor blood sugar levels and be able to have a series of useful information available to both the patient and the doctor in order to personalize the therapy and obtain better metabolic control.These aspects, together with other advantages such as the possibility of being able to position the sensor in non-visible areas or to personalize alarms, are important for everyday life and therefore for the mental well-being of people with diabetes who can lead their lives without limitations. These technologies restore ’empowerment’ to the patient, that is, a sense of greater control over their pathology, thus increasing the motivation to be actively involved in improving their lifestyle and therapeutic adherence”.
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