Assocation between Subjective Ilness Perception and Glycemie Control with Emotional Experience in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Subjektivna percepcija bolesti odnosi se na pacijentova kognitivna vjerovanja i emocionalno doživljavanje o postojećoj bolesti pri čemu osoba prvo formira vlastitu reprezentaciju bolesti i prijetnje zdravlju, zatim bira način suočavanja i u konačnici procjenjuje efikasnost odabranih ponašanja. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati povezanost sociodemografskih varijabli, kliničkih manifestacija bolesti i percepcije bolesti sa simptomima anksioznosti i depresivnosti kod osoba oboljelih od dijabetesa tipa 2. Istraživanjem su potvrđene spolne razlike u simptomima anksioznosti pri čemu žene, oboljele od dijabetesa tipa 2, doživljavaju više anksioznih smetnji u odnosu na muškarce. Nadalje, simptomi anksioznosti izraženiji su u žena nižeg stupnja obrazovanja, lošije regulacije glikemije te s prevladavajućim uvjerenjem da bolest ima ozbiljne posljedice na njihovo zdravlje i da je akutnog trajanja, dok su simptomi anksioznosti izraženiji samo u muškaraca koji percipiraju da njihova bolest ima ozbiljne posljedice na njihov život. Neovisno o spolu, percepcija ozbiljnosti bolesti rezultira izraženijom zabrinutosti, napetosti i strahom vezanih za bolest. Nadalje, u žena simptomi anksioznosti ne variraju obzirom na regulaciju glikemije i indeks tjelesne mase, dok su u muškaraca simptomi anksioznosti najviše izraženi kod pretilih muškaraca neovisno o stupnju regulacije glikemije. Konačno, percepcija posljedica bolesti je parcijalni medijator odnosa između regulacije glikemije i simptoma anksioznosti samo u žena. Rezultati istraživanja sugeriraju kako su kognitivne reprezentacije bolesti u žena, posebno tijek i posljedice bolesti, značajno povezane s regulacijom bolesti te ukazuju na važnost ispitivanja spolnih razlika u percepciji bolesti obzirom na njihov različit utjecaj na emocionalno doživljavanje i načine suočavanja s dijabetesom tipa 2.Subjective illness perception refers to patient's cognitive belief and emotional experience about the present illness where patient firstly forms his own representation of illness and threats to health, subsequently patient adopts the way how to deal with illness which ultimately ends with patient's evaluation of the selected behaviours efficiency. The goal of this research was to examine the association of sociodemographic variables, clinical manifestation of the illness and illness perception with anxiety and depressive symptoms. Gender differences were confirmed by this research in anxiety symptoms where women with type 2 diabetes experience more anxiety disorders then men. Respectively, anxiety symptoms are more expressed in less educated women, poor regulation of glycemia and with strong beliefs that the illness is acute duration and with serious consequences to their life while anxiety symptoms are expressed only in men who perceive that their illness has serious consequences to their life. Further, anxiety symptoms in women do not vary considering of glycemic control and body mass index, while in men anxiety symptoms are mostly expressed in obese men independently of glycemia regulation. Finally, perception of the illness consequences is partial mediator of the relationship between level of glycemic control only on a sample of women. Results of the study suggest that cognitive component in female representation of illness, especially timeline and consequence, are significantly associated with glycemic control and suggest importance of examining gender differences in illness perception because they influence on differences in emotional experience and the ways of dealing with type 2 diabetes