Comparative Study of Diabetes Knowledge, Attitudes, Family Support, Self-efficacy, and Self-management Behaviors Between Cancer Survivors With Diabetes and Diabetes Patients Without Cancer.
Eun Jeong Ko, Su Jung Lee
PMID 40838966WHAT IT FOUND
Cancer survivors with diabetes reported less diabetes knowledge, less family support, and lower uptake of eye and HbA1c tests than patients without cancer.
Self-efficacy did not differ significantly.
Key findings
01Cancer survivors with diabetes had lower diabetes knowledge (mean 10.30 vs 13.51 on a 20-point scale) and less diabetes education experience (47.0% vs 61.6%).
02They reported less family support (mean 15.50 vs 17.57 on a 5 to 25 scale) and placed less value on tight glucose control (mean 4.10 vs 4.25 on a 0 to 5 scale).
03They had lower completion of retinal examination (56.8% vs 81.6%) and HbA1c testing (80.0% vs 99.2%), and more often never self-checked feet (12.8% vs 1.6%).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional and used self-reported questionnaires, so it cannot show that cancer caused lower knowledge, support, or self-care. Participants were recruited from 3 hospitals in Korea, which may limit generalisability. The groups were not matched: cancer survivors were older (mean 65.81 vs 60.79 years) and had less diabetes education (47.0% vs 61.6%). The study did not analyse relationships between self-management behaviours and objective diabetes control indicators such as HbA1c, blood pressure, triglyceride, or high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. Cancer treatment factors, including surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, and corticosteroids, were not considered. Some measurement tools were modified for the study, and reliability was not measured for the self-management behaviour tool because it used mixed response scales.
Declared interests
The study was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea through the Ministry of Education. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these differences as proof that cancer causes poorer diabetes self-care. This was a cross-sectional survey of self-reported knowledge and behaviors, and the groups differed in age and diabetes education experience, so no cause-and-effect conclusion is supported.