RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between social support networks and diabetes control and its impact on quality of life in older community-dwelling Mexicans. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out on a convenience sample of 182 older diabetic people who were active participants in community self-care and mutual help groups in Mexico City for more than one year. All were independents and had medical diagnostics determining that they had diabetes without complications for one year or more. We measured biochemical and anthropometric parameters, social support networks for older people (SSN-Older) and perceived quality of life. Patients with uncontrolled diabetes mellitus had HbA1c (%) ≥ 8. RESULTS: It was found that 65% (118/182) of the elderly diabetics in the study were controlled. We observed a significantly higher average score in the SSN-Older scale on the extra-familial support subscale in the controlled diabetic group compared with the uncontrolled group (57 ± 25 vs. 49 ± 30, p < 0.05). Additionally, the average satisfaction score, as observed from SSN-Older scale data, was significantly higher in the controlled diabetics group compared with the uncontrolled group (51 ± 21 vs.42 ± 22, p = 0.01). Likewise, in the quality of life analysis, we observed that 81% of the controlled diabetics perceived a high quality of life compared with 19% of the uncontrolled group (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that social support networks, especially community self-help groups, represent a determining social capital for control of diabetes mellitus in older people in the community.