Abstract
653 diabetic patients that visited 3 specialized diabetes clinics in Tokyo were administered the “Problem Areas In Diabetes Survey (PAID)” scale, a scale of emotional distress related to diabetes. The relation ships between the PAID score and 1) the clinical characteristics, 2) job-related stress as evaluated by JCQ (Job Content Questionnaire), 3) accuracy of prediction of the PAID score by health providers, and 4) presence of minor depression as measured by SRQ-D (Self-Rating Questionnaire for depression) were investigated.
Higher PAID scores were related to a younger age, female sex, higher HbA1c, history of drug therapy (insulin>sulfonylurea), presence of complications, history of hospitalization and hypoglycemia. ‘Demands’ of the job as calculated by JCQ was weakly related to the PAID score.
The PAID score was underestimated by health providers in 15% of the patients. 13% of the patients with a PAID scores of over 50 were detected to have minor depression by SRQ-D.
PAID is considered to be useful to screen diabetic patients for emotional distress.
