Jamaican patients' understanding of diabetes mellitus.

Ambulant and hospitalized patients with diabetes mellitus were interviewed by two trained interviewers to obtain information about their knowledge of the illness and the communication they had received about it. Sixty to seventy per cent of patients claimed that no explanation about the illness was given to them at the time of diagnosis. This poor communication occurred in both public and private medical services. Fifty-seven per cent of the patients scored no more than the 50th percentile on the knowledge rating score, reflecting that patients' knowledge of the illness was in general poor. The hospitalized patients did learn about the illness while there, but still claimed that they learnt nothing. These data are examined in the context of the nature of the doctor-patient communication style and effect. Jamaican diabetic patients need to be better informed about their illness; despite short patient-physician contact time, an effort to explain the nature of the illness at the time of diagnosis would be worthwhile. This will need subsequent assessment and reinforcement by involving a team approach.

Jamaican patients' understanding of diabetes mellitus

Ambulant and hospitalized patients with diabetes mellitus were interviewed by two trained interviewers to obtain information about their knowledge of the illness and the communication they had received about it. Sixty to seventy per cent of patients claimed that no explanation about the illness was given to them at the time of diagnosis. This poor communication occurred in both public and private medical services. Fifty-seven per cent of the patients' knowledge of the illness was in general poor. The hospitalized patients did learn about the illness while there, but still claimed that they learnt nothing. These data are examined in the context of the nature of the doctor-patient communication style and effect. Jamaican diabetic patients need to be better informed about their illness; despite short patient-physician contact time, an effort to explain the nature of the illness at the time of diagnosis would be worthwhile. This will need subsequent assessment and reinforcement by involving a team approach.

Mortality from diabetes mellitus in Jamaica.

Mortality data for 8,799 Jamaican diabetics who died between 1970 and 1979 were collected by reviewing the death certificates of all jamaicans that were recorded for that period. Diabetes was found to account for 6.5% of all deaths; 62% of these deaths occurred among females; and diabetics were found to die earlier than nondiabetics. There was also underreporting of diabetes in the official Registrar General's statistics, in that about a third of the descendents who had diabetes recorded on their death certificates were not coded as having died of diabetes, because the disease was not recorded as the underlying cause of death. Vascular disease was a prime cause of death among these diabetics.

Sexual development and fertility of Jamaican female patients with homozygous sickle cell disease.

Results of a questionnaire study of 91 Jamaican patients with homozygous sickle cell (SS) disease and 59 Jamaican control subjects of similar socioeconomic status indicated a mean delay of 2.3 years in age at menarche and of 3.9 years in age at first pregnancy in Ss disease. The mean interval between first sexual exposure and pregnancy was similar in the two groups. The delay in age at first pregnancy in SS disease resulted partly from the delay in puberty, but it also resulted from a further delay in first sexual exposure, with a mean interval between menarche and first sexual exposure of 2.6 and 4.4 years in control subjects and patients, respectively. Physical and social factors that related to this delay were reflected in the higher prevalence of casual unions in patients; this finding implied lesser sexual exposure. Although the similar interval between first sexual exposure and pregnancy did not suggest a lesser fertility in patients with SS disease, the number of infants born to patients with SS disease was less at all ages compared with Jamaican standards. This finding might reflect lesser fertility subsequent to the first pregnancy.

Menarcheal age among girls attending school in urban and rural Jamaica.

PIP: Data collected in 1978 on age a menarche among 1,148 schoolgirls in Jamaica are presented. Variations in age at menarche by rural or urban residence, socioeconomic status, and body weight are analyzed.^ieng

Some social factors related to control of diabetes mellitus in adult Jamaican patients.

A population of 103 adult diabetic patients was interviewed at the Outpatient Clinic for diabetic patients of the University Hospital of the West Indies to examine the effects of severity of the illness and social variables, such as facilities at home, education attained, employment status, informal medication, and understanding of the illness in relation to its control. Patients were classified as severe if there were clinical evidence of vascular or neurologic complications of diabetes and as mild if there were no complications. Control of diabetes was regarded as good if the patients were free from or had less than 2+ glycosuria and as poor if they had had 2+ or more glycosuria during the six months before the study. We found that the quality of control was mainly determined by the severity of the disease. In the mild diabetic, proper diabetic control was not influenced by any social variable examined. In the severe diabetic the quality of control was associated with social amenities, educational status, employment status, and understanding of the disease.

Psychosocial aspects of sickle cell disease.

The study described in this article deals with sickle cell patients in Jamaica whose illness is accompanied by leg ulceration, a common complication of sickle cell disease. After exploring the disease's psychological, social, and economic effects, the authors suggest various ways for social workers to help sickle cell patients.