November 15, 2019
Life Experience Critical for Managing Type 2 Diabetes
By Stacy Kish
A team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that age plays a critical role in the well-being of people newly diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, with younger patients more susceptible to psychological distress resulting in worse health outcomes.
"We found we can evaluate a patient’s initial stress and predict how they will be doing six months later," said Vicki Helgeson, professor of psychology at CMU’s Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and senior author on the paper. "If you can identify people who are facing diabetes distress earlier, you can intervene and prevent their health from declining."
The results are available in the Nov. 15 issue of the Journal of Behavioral Medicine.