A specific nursing educational program in patients with Cushing's syndrome

Cushing's syndrome (CS) is a rare endocrine disease, due to cortisol hypersecretion. CS patients have comorbidities, often still present after biochemical cure. Specific nursing healthcare programs to address this disease and achieve improved health related quality of life (HRQoL) are lacking. Thus, an educational nursing intervention, through the development and promotion of specific educational tools, appears to be justified. The objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of an educational nursing program in CS patients on HRQoL, clinical parameters, level of pain and physical activity, patterns of rest, and use of health resources. A prospective, randomized study was conducted in two reference hospitals for CS. Sixty-one patients (mean age 47 +/- 12.7 years, 83.6 % females) were enrolled and divided into 2 groups: an "intervention" group where educational sessions were performed over 9 months and a "control" group, without these sessions. Specific questionnaires were used at the beginning and end of the study. After educational sessions, the intervention group had a better score in the CushingQoL questionnaire (p < 0.01), reduced level of pain (p < 0.05), improved physical activity (p < 0.01) and healthy lifestyle (p < 0.001) compared to the control group. A correlation between the CushingQoL score and reduced pain (r = 0.46, p < 0.05), improved physical activity (r = 0.89, p < 0.01), and sleep (r = 0.53, p = 0.01) was observed. This educational nursing program improved physical activity, healthy lifestyle, better sleep patterns, and reduced pain in CS patients, influencing HRQoL and reducing consumption of health resources. Moreover, the brief nature of the program suggests it as a good candidate to be used in CS patients.