Randomized, Controlled Trial of Diabetic Patient Education: Improved Knowledge Without Improved Metabolic Status

We randomized 749 insulin-treated patients on the rolls of the Mount Sinai Medical Center Diabetes Clinic in a controlled trial of diabetic patient education; 345 agreed to participate, of whom 165 were assigned to the education group and 180 to the control group. Cognitive scores increased from 5.3 ± 1.6 to 5.8 ± 1.6 in the education group, but there was no change in the control group, whose score was 5.3 ± 1.7 before and after the intervention (P = .0073). HbA_1c fell from 6.8 ± 2.1 to 6.1 ± 2.0% in the education group and from 6.6 ± 2.0 to 6.3 ± 2.0% in the control group, an insignificant difference (P = . 1995). The fasting blood glucose decreased from 223 ± 94 to 179 ± 73 mg/dl in the education group and from 199 ± 81 to 185 ± 76 mg/dl in the controls (P = .1983). Triglycerides, high- and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and insulin dosage also failed to show significant variation among groups.