The Effect of Home Care on Metabolic Profile and Blood Pressure in Type 2 Diabetic Patients who Underwent General Surgeries

The stress of surgery itself results in metabolic disturbance. Few studies have mentioned how to manage the metabolic profile of diabetic patients after discharge from the hospital. The present study aimed to determine the effect of home care on metabolic profile and blood pressure in type 2 diabetic patients who underwent general surgeries.

Seventy type 2 diabetic patients who were undergoing surgery were assigned to the intervention and control groups via blocking order. The intervention group received a 3‑month home care with an interprofessional team approach. The levels of fasting blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), total cholesterol, triglycerides, high‑density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‑c), low‑density lipoprotein cholesterols, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure were measured before and three months after the intervention in both groups. In the control group, only routine care was performed in the postsurgery period. Data were entered in SPSS software version 23 and were analyzed.

There were no significant differences between the intervention and control groups for background characteristics. Systolic blood pressure (P < .001), diastolic blood pressure (P = 0.005), lipid profile (P = 0.001) [except for triglycerides level], fasting blood glucose (P = .001), and HbA1c (P = .003) decreased significantly in the intervention group. After controlling baseline data by applying analysis of covariance, a significant increase in HDL‑c (P = .032) was seen. Also, the difference between the mean percentage of variations in HbA1c levels between intervention and control groups was significant.

Our study showed improvement in HbA1c and HDL‑c levels with home care programs in patients with diabetes who underwent general surgeries. More studies with longer follow‑ups are necessarily addressing the effects of home care on other metabolic parameters in these patients.