the Impacts on the self-care of elderly people with type 2 diabetes mellitus: an integrative literature review

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a globally prevalent chronic condition, especially among the elderly. It is characterized by insulin resistance and the body's inability to use this substance correctly, which leads to high blood glucose levels. Management of this condition in the elderly is complicated due to the frequent presence of other comorbidities, such as hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. In this way, the referring work aims to analyze, through scientific literature, the main impacts of self-care for elderly people with type 2 diabetes mellitus. This is an integrative, descriptive review with a qualitative approach, in which a structured process was followed to search, select and analyze scientific articles with pre-determined criteria. The present study aims to investigate the impacts of self-care on the health of elderly people with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. The selection of articles occurred through a search in renowned databases such as VHL and SciELO. The terms used included “Self-Care”, “Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus”, “Continuing Education” and “Elderly Health”. The inclusion criteria were: articles published between 2019 and 2023, in English, Spanish and Portuguese, available in full, and that focused on elderly people over 60 years old diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Incomplete articles with no connection to the theme, outside the established period or duplicates. Thus, initially 30,201 results were found, without adding filters. However, after applying the inclusive parameters, the number of findings was reduced to 83 studies, and of these, their titles resulting from the databases were read and those that did not match the theme were excluded, leaving only 17 articles for the sample in the final qualitative synthesis. Thus, the analyzes revealed that self-care has significant impacts on the lives of elderly people with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, influencing several aspects of their health and well-being. Finally, the impacts of self-care among elderly people with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus go beyond physical health, encompassing psychosocial and economic dimensions, which justifies the need for continuous and integrated efforts.