Quality of life along the diabetes continuum: a cross-sectional view of health-related quality of life and general health status in middle-aged and older Finns

Impaired health-related quality of life due to elevated risk of developing diabetes: A cross-sectional study in Indonesia

BACKGROUND

This study investigated the association between elevated risk of developing diabetes and impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in the Indonesian population.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1,336 Indonesians from the general population who had no previous diagnosis of diabetes. Utility score to represent HRQoL was measured using the EuroQol 5-dimension, while the risk for developing diabetes was determined using the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) instrument. All participants underwent a blood glucose test after fasting for 8 hours. The association between FINDRISC score and HRQoL adjusted for covariates was analysed using multivariate Tobit regression models. Minimal clinically important differences were used to facilitate interpretation of minimal changes in utility score that could be observed.

RESULTS

The median (interquartile range) of the overall FINDRISC score was 6 (7), while the mean (95% confidence intervals) of the EQ-5D utility score was 0.93 (0.93-0.94). Once adjusted for clinical parameters and socio-demographic characteristics, participants with a higher FINDRISC score showed a significantly lower HRQoL. No significant association was detected between fasting blood glucose level categories and HRQoL. A difference of 4-5 points in the FINDRISC score was considered to reflect meaningful change in HRQoL in clinical practice.

CONCLUSION

An elevated risk of developing diabetes is associated with a lower HRQoL. Therefore, attention should be paid not only to patients who have already been diagnosed with diabetes, but also to members of the general population who demonstrate an elevated risk of developing diabetes. This approach will assist in preventing the onset of diabetes and any further deterioration of HRQoL in this segment of the Indonesian population.

Depressive symptoms decrease health-related quality of life of patients with coronary artery disease and diabetes: a 12-month follow up study in primary care

OBJECTIVE

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a multidimensional patient-related outcome. Less is known about the role of depressive symptoms on HRQoL in chronic diseases. This follow-up study analyzed depressive symptoms' association with HRQoL change measured with 15D in patients with chronic diseases.

DESIGN AND SETTING

A total of 587 patients from the Siilinjärvi Health Center, Finland were followed up due to the treatment of hypertension (HA), coronary artery disease (CAD) or diabetes (DM). Depressive symptoms were based on Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) (BDI ≥10 =depressive symptoms). HRQoL was assessed at the baseline and after 12 months.

RESULTS

There were 244 patients with HA (mean age 70 years, 59% women); 103 patients (72 years, 38%) with CAD and 240 with DM (67 years, 52%). The change from baseline to the 12-month follow-up in 15D was significantly different between patients without and with depressive symptoms in CAD (p < 0.001) and DM (p = 0.024). In CAD with depressive symptoms, the change was -0.064 (95% CI: -0.094 to -0.035) and in DM -0.018 (95% CI: -0.037 to 0.001). In the 15 HRQoL dimensions of 15D, a depressive symptoms-related decrease was found in three dimensions with HA, in 9 with CAD and in 7 with DM. As a function of the BDI at baseline, the 15D score decreased significantly among patients with CAD and DM.

CONCLUSIONS

Depressive symptoms impact negatively on future HRQoL among primary care patients with coronary artery disease and diabetes emphasizing that mood should be acknowledged in their care and follow-up.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Clinical Trials registration number: NCT02992431, registered December 14th 2016.

Glycemic status and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in populations at risk of diabetes in two Latin American cities

PURPOSE

To estimate the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) according to glycemic status, and its relationship with sociodemographic and clinical factors in a population at risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D).

METHODS

Cross-sectional study, using cluster sampling. Data were collected from 1135 participants over 30 years of age, at risk of developing T2D from the PREDICOL project. Participants' glycemic status was defined using an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Participants were divided into normoglycemic subjects (NGT), prediabetes and diabetics do not know they have diabetes (UT2D). HRQOL was assessed using the EQ-5D-3L questionnaire of the EuroQol group. Logistic regression and Tobit models were used to examine factors associated with EQ-5D scores for each glycemic group.

RESULTS

The mean age of participants was 55.6 ± 12.1 years, 76.4% were female, and one in four participants had prediabetes or unknown diabetes. Participants reported problems most frequently on the dimensions of Pain/Discomfort and Anxiety/Depression in the different glycemic groups. The mean EQ-5D score in NGT was 0.80 (95% CI 0.79-0.81), in prediabetes, 0.81 (95% CI 0.79-0.83), and in participants with UT2D of 0.79 (95% CI 0.76-0.82), respectively. Female sex, older age, city of residence, lower education, receiving treatment for hypertension, and marital status were significantly associated with lower levels of HRQOL in the Tobit regression analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

HRQOL of NGT, prediabetes, and UT2D participants was statistically similar. However, factors such as gender, age. and place of residence were found to be significant predictors of HRQOL for each glycemic group.

Health-related quality of life for normal glycaemia, prediabetes and type 2 diabetes mellitus: Cross-sectional analysis of the ADDITION-PRO study

AIMS

We estimated and compared health-related quality of life for individuals with normal glucose tolerance, prediabetes and diabetes.

METHODS

Participants in the ADDITION-PRO study, Denmark, who attended a health assessment between 2009 and 2011, and who completed the 3-level EuroQoL 5-dimensions (EQ-5D-3L) questionnaire were included. For the present study, they were classified as normal glucose tolerance, prediabetes and diabetes (screen-detected and known) using the 2019 American Diabetes Association criteria. Prediabetes was defined as impaired fasting glucose, impaired glucose tolerance or HbA1c between 5.7-6.4% (39-47 mmol/mol). EQ-5D-3L data were converted into utility scores using Danish and UK values, where '1' equals full health and '0' equals death. Regression models estimated the association between utility and the different glucose health states.

RESULTS

The mean EQ-5D-3L score in the sample population was 0.86 ± 0.17 (median 0.85, interquartile range 0.76 to 1) using UK values. Almost half of the sample (48%) reported full health with an EQ-5D score of '1'. Individuals with known diabetes reported the lowest EQ-5D-3L utility scores (0.81 ± 0.20), followed by individuals with screen-detected diabetes (0.85 ± 0.19), prediabetes (0.86 ± 0.17) and normal glucose tolerance (0.90 ± 0.15). The differences were statistically significant for normal glucose and known diabetes relative to prediabetes, after adjusting for sex, age, smoking, BMI and physical activity. These findings also held using Danish values albeit the differences were of smaller magnitude.

CONCLUSIONS

Having prediabetes and diabetes was significantly associated with lower health-related quality of life relative to normal glucose tolerance. Our estimates will be useful to inform the value of interventions to prevent diabetes or prediabetes.

Digitally Supported Lifestyle Intervention to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes Through Healthy Habits: Secondary Analysis of Long-Term User Engagement Trajectories in a Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND

Digital health interventions may offer a scalable way to prevent type 2 diabetes (T2D) with minimal burden on health care systems by providing early support for healthy behaviors among adults at increased risk for T2D. However, ensuring continued engagement with digital solutions is a challenge impacting the expected effectiveness.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to investigate the longitudinal usage patterns of a digital healthy habit formation intervention, BitHabit, and the associations with changes in T2D risk factors.

METHODS

This is a secondary analysis of the StopDia (Stop Diabetes) study, an unblinded parallel 1-year randomized controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of the BitHabit app alone or together with face-to-face group coaching in comparison with routine care in Finland in 2017-2019 among community-dwelling adults (aged 18 to 74 years) at an increased risk of T2D. We used longitudinal data on usage from 1926 participants randomized to the digital intervention arms. Latent class growth models were applied to identify user engagement trajectories with the app during the study. Predictors for trajectory membership were examined with multinomial logistic regression models. Analysis of covariance was used to investigate the association between trajectories and 12-month changes in T2D risk factors.

RESULTS

More than half (1022/1926, 53.1%) of the participants continued to use the app throughout the 12-month intervention. The following 4 user engagement trajectories were identified: terminated usage (904/1926, 46.9%), weekly usage (731/1926, 38.0%), twice weekly usage (208/1926, 10.8%), and daily usage (83/1926, 4.3%). Active app use during the first month, higher net promoter score after the first 1 to 2 months of use, older age, and better quality of diet at baseline increased the odds of belonging to the continued usage trajectories. Compared with other trajectories, daily usage was associated with a higher increase in diet quality and a more pronounced decrease in BMI and waist circumference at 12 months.

CONCLUSIONS

Distinct long-term usage trajectories of the BitHabit app were identified, and individual predictors for belonging to different trajectory groups were found. These findings highlight the need for being able to identify individuals likely to disengage from interventions early on, and could be used to inform the development of future adaptive interventions.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03156478; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03156478.

INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID)

RR2-10.1186/s12889-019-6574-y.

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a population at risk of type 2 diabetes: a cross-sectional study in two Latin American cities

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to describe the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) characteristics in a population at risk of developing type 2 diabetes in Barranquilla and Bogotá, Colombia.

Methods

A cross-sectional study with 1135 participants older than 30 years-of-age recruited in Bogotá D.C., and Barranquilla by cluster sampling in 2018 to 2019. The Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) was used to detect participants at risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D). HRQoL was assessed using the EQ-5D-3L questionnaire. Unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression models were used to calculate odds ratios (OR) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals CI).

Results

Moderate or extreme problems appeared more frequently in the dimensions of Pain/Discomfort (60.8%) and Anxiety/Depression (30.8%). The mean score of the EQ-VAS was 74.3 (± 17.3), significantly larger in the state of complete health (11111) compared with those with problems in more than one of the quality-of-life dimensions. Being female and living in Bogota D.C., were associated with greater odds of reporting problems in the Pain (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.2–2.2) and Discomfort dimensions (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.2–2.0) respectively and Anxiety/Depression (OR 1.9; 95% CI 1.3–2.7), (OR 9.1; 95% CI 6.6–12.4), respectively.

Conclusions

As living place and sex were associated with dimensions of Pain/Discomfort and Anxiety/Depression in the HRQoL in people at risk of T2D, greater attention should be paid to these determinants of HRQoL to design and reorient strategies with a territorial and gender perspective to achieve better health outcomes.

Plain English summary

Diabetes is one of the four non-communicable diseases with increasing prevalence in the world, which has made it a serious public health problem. In Colombia, in 2019 diabetes affected 8.4% of the Colombian adult population and more than one million Colombian adults of this age group have hidden or undetected diabetes. This disease is not only characterized by increased premature mortality, loss of productivity, and economic impact, but it also involves a deterioration in the quality of life of people with diabetes with their respective families. However, very Little is known about health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a population at risk or with prediabetes. This study has evaluated the quality of life in patients at risk of diabetes and their behavior with some variables as sociodemographic, lifestyle, history, and established their difference in two territories of the Colombian Caribbean. The results of this study indicate that the HRQoL of people at risk of type 2 diabetes is affected by factors such as gender, city, dysglycemia, medication for hypertension and education level. Therefore, greater attention should be paid to these determinants of HRQL to design and implement strategies that reduce this risk of developing type 2 diabetes, prevent prediabetes and improve the quality of life in prediabetic or diabetic patients.

A Meta-Analysis of Group-Based Pain Management Programs: Overall Effect on Quality of Life and Other Chronic Pain Outcome Measures, with an Exploration into Moderator Variables that Influence the Efficacy of Such Interventions

OBJECTIVES

Group-based pain management programs (GPMPs) have been found to significantly improve quality of life and other pain outcome measures in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. The aims of this meta-analysis were to reevaluate the overall effect of GPMPs on various pain outcomes for individuals experiencing chronic musculoskeletal conditions and to explore moderator variables that potentially contribute to the overall efficacy of GPMPs.

METHODS

Using the R package called metaphor and RevMan, we estimated the overall effectiveness of GPMPs on various pain outcome measures. The differential effectiveness of GPMPs was examined by conducting a mixed-effects meta-analytic model using various study-level characteristics. Moderator analyses included three content moderator variables and seven format moderator variables. Receiver operating characteristic curves investigated optimal points in some of the moderator variable analysis results.

RESULTS

Significant overall main effects of GPMPs were found on all the explored outcome measures in this study (P < 0.05). In moderator analyses, it was found that the structure of GPMPs, rather than the content, significantly improved outcomes (P < 0.05). Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses identified the optimal number of GPMP sessions and number of participants per group.

DISCUSSION AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE

GPMPs have a statistically significant overall effect on all explored pain outcome measures. The investigation into content and structural moderators suggests that certain GPMP design factors have a greater effect on pain outcomes than do content factors. Therefore, GPMP structural designs appear to be important in reducing pain and improving quality of life for patients with chronic pain and warrant further investigation.

Quality of Life in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients with Neuropsychological Deficits

OBJECTIVE

We investigated: (i) the cognitive performance of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients compared to healthy control participants and (ii) the Health-related Quality of life (HRQOL) of type 2 diabetics with neuropsychological deficits.

METHOD

We conducted a prospective study in (N = 44) T2DM patients and (N = 28) demographically matched healthy controls. All participants were assessed with a flexible comprehensive neuropsychological battery of tests that have been standardized in Greece and found to be sensitive in detecting cognitive deficits in type 2 diabetics. They were additionally assessed on measures of general intelligence, general mental state, and depression. They were also administered the WHO QOL-BREF self-report questionnaire to evaluate perceived health-related quality of life.

RESULTS

Groups were well matched on baseline demographic characteristics and estimated premorbid intelligence. The groups did not differ on general mental state but varied in the encoding of verbal material, total verbal learning, delayed recall of verbal information, mental information processing speed, phonological and semantic verbal fluency and executive functions, set-shifting. Glycosylated hemoglobin levels and an interaction of age, education, and premorbid intelligence were the most important predictors of domain-specific neuropsychological performance. T2DM patients with deficits in verbal learning, executive functions, set-shifting, and semantic verbal fluency, had significantly lower QOL in the domains of psychological and environmental health, social relationships, and general health, respectively.

CONCLUSION

T2DM patients have cognitive deficits on several domains compared to healthy participants. Domain specific neuropsychological deficits in middle aged T2DM patients have a significant impact on HRQOL.

Health-Related Quality of Life in Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study

CONTEXT

Beyond the objective outcomes of metabolic syndrome (MetS), the association between this syndrome and its patient-centered outcomes need to be investigated in Middle-Eastern countries. This report aims to summarize the Tehran lipid and glucose study (TLGS) findings regarding the association between MetS and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and its influential factors through the past decade.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITION

The current review has been conducted on the TLGS published data regarding different aspects of the association between MetS and HRQoL in adult participants through the last decade. To assess HRQoL, the Iranian version of short form health survey (SF-36) was used. To define MetS the most commonly used insulin resistance (IR)-and waist circumference (WC) - based MetS definitions have been applied in the publications reviewed.

RESULTS

As a whole, MetS was a determinant of poor physical HRQoL only in women (OR: 1.78; 95% CI: 1.21 - 2.61), particularly in those with more component of MetS (P < 0.001). Results further showed that only reproductive aged women with MetS were more likely to report poor PCS compared to those without MetS even after adjusting for age (OR: 1.7, 95% CI: 1.0 - 3.0; P < 0.05). Different structures of MetS and physical HRQoL constructs in men and women as well as age and smoking with significant gender-specific effects on mental HRQoL were factors responsible for the gender specific pattern observed. Considering the duration of MetS, only women with intermittent MetS indicated higher risk for reporting poor PCS (OR: 2.75, 95% CI: 1.19 - 6.37; P < 0.001) compared to those without MetS. The observed sex-specific pattern used to detect poor HRQoL in those with MetS was confirmed by all WC-based definitions except for the American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (AHA/NHLBI) definition. However, none of IR-based definitions could detect poor physical and mental HRQoL in either gender.

CONCLUSIONS

In summary, in the TLGS population, the association between MetS and HRQoL followed a sex specific pattern, mainly significant only in women and in the physical aspect.

Impact of Chronic Pain on Patients' Quality of Life: A Comparative Mixed-Methods Study

Background:

Chronic pain has become a common problem within primary care and can negatively impact patients’ lives.

Objective:

To assess and explore the impact of chronic pain on patients’ quality of life (QoL) using quantitative and qualitative data, respectively.

Methods:

A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was used. Chronic pain patients were recruited from a community-based pain clinic located in the North of England. Quality of life was assessed using Short-Form 36 version 2. Quality of life data were also extracted from the Third Oxford and Lifestyles Survey and Welsh Health Survey to allow comparison of QoL of chronic pain patients with that of the general population and patients with long-term conditions. Qualitative interviews were conducted face-to-face using a semistructured topic guide. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS version 24 and qualitative data were analyzed thematically.

Results:

Seventy-nine patients participated in the quantitative phase. The mean (standard deviation) age was 46.5 (14.5). Lower back (54; 68.3%) followed by lower limb were the most common pain sites. Compared with the general population and patients with long-term conditions, chronic pain patients had significantly lower mean QoL scores across all domains of SF-36 (All P < .05). Six themes emerged from qualitative data: interference with physical functioning, interference with professional life, interference with relationships and family life, interference with social life, interference with sleep, and interference with mood.

Conclusion:

The multidimensional negative impact of chronic pain leads to poorer QoL among patients with chronic pain compared to the general population and patients with other long-term conditions.

Comparison of health-related quality of Life (HRQOL) among patients with pre-diabetes, diabetes and normal glucose tolerance, using the 15D-HRQOL questionnaire in Greece: the DEPLAN study

BACKGROUND

Diabetes mellitus is usually preceded by a pre-diabetic stage before the clinical presentation of the disease, the influence of which on persons' quality of life is not adequately elucidated. The purpose of this study was to compare the Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) of persons with pre-diabetes with that of diabetes or normal glucose tolerance (NGT), using the validated HRQOL-15D questionnaire.

METHODS

The HRQOL-15D scores of 172 people with pre-diabetes (108 with Impaired Fasting Glucose [IFG], 64 with Impaired Glucose Tolerance [IGT], aged 58.3 ± 10.3 years) and 198 with NGT (aged 54.4 ± 10.1 years) from the Greek part of the DEPLAN study (Diabetes in Europe - Prevention using Lifestyle, Physical Activity and Nutritional Intervention), were compared to 100 diabetes patients' scores (aged 60.9 ± 12.5 years, diabetes duration 17.0 ± 10.0 years, HbA1c 7.2 ± 1.2%), derived from the outpatient Diabetes Clinic of a University Hospital.

RESULTS

The diabetes patients' HRQOL-15D score (0.8605) was significantly lower than the pre-diabetes' (0.9008) and the controls' (0.9092) (p < 0.001). There were no differences in the total score between the controls and the group with pre-diabetes. However, examination of individual parameters of the score showed that people with IGT had lower scores compared to the control group, as related to the parameters of "mobility" and "psychological distress". No differences were found in any component of the HRQOL-15D score between the control group and the IFG group, nor between the two groups with pre-diabetes (IFG vs. IGT).

CONCLUSIONS

Persons with pre-diabetes had a similar HRQOL score with healthy individuals, and a higher score than persons with diabetes. Specific components of the score, however, were lower in the IGT group compared to the controls. These findings help clarify the issue of HRQOL of persons with pre-diabetes and its possible impact on prevention.

BoostMe accurately predicts DNA methylation values in whole-genome bisulfite sequencing of multiple human tissues

Background

Bisulfite sequencing is widely employed to study the role of DNA methylation in disease; however, the data suffer from biases due to coverage depth variability. Imputation of methylation values at low-coverage sites may mitigate these biases while also identifying important genomic features associated with predictive power.

Results

Here we describe BoostMe, a method for imputing low-quality DNA methylation estimates within whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) data. BoostMe uses a gradient boosting algorithm, XGBoost, and leverages information from multiple samples for prediction. We find that BoostMe outperforms existing algorithms in speed and accuracy when applied to WGBS of human tissues. Furthermore, we show that imputation improves concordance between WGBS and the MethylationEPIC array at low WGBS depth, suggesting improved WGBS accuracy after imputation.

Conclusions

Our findings support the use of BoostMe as a preprocessing step for WGBS analysis.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-018-4766-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The cost-effectiveness of interventions targeting lifestyle change for the prevention of diabetes in a Swedish primary care and community based prevention program

BACKGROUND

Policymakers need to know the cost-effectiveness of interventions to prevent type 2 diabetes (T2D). The objective of this study was to estimate the cost-effectiveness of a T2D prevention initiative targeting weight reduction, increased physical activity and healthier diet in persons in pre-diabetic states by comparing a hypothetical intervention versus no intervention in a Swedish setting.

METHODS

A Markov model was used to study the cost-effectiveness of a T2D prevention program based on lifestyle change versus a control group where no prevention was applied. Analyses were done deterministically and probabilistically based on Monte Carlo simulation for six different scenarios defined by sex and age groups (30, 50, 70 years). Cost and quality adjusted life year (QALY) differences between no intervention and intervention and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were estimated and visualized in cost-effectiveness planes (CE planes) and cost-effectiveness acceptability curves (CEA curves).

RESULTS

All ICERs were cost-effective and ranged from 3833 €/QALY gained (women, 30 years) to 9215 €/QALY gained (men, 70 years). The CEA curves showed that the probability of the intervention being cost-effective at the threshold value of 50,000 € per QALY gained was very high for all scenarios ranging from 85.0 to 91.1%.

DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION

The prevention or the delay of the onset of T2D is feasible and cost-effective. A small investment in healthy lifestyle with change in physical activity and diet together with weight loss are very likely to be cost-effective.

Differential expression analysis for RNAseq using Poisson mixed models

Identifying differentially expressed (DE) genes from RNA sequencing (RNAseq) studies is among the most common analyses in genomics. However, RNAseq DE analysis presents several statistical and computational challenges, including over-dispersed read counts and, in some settings, sample non-independence. Previous count-based methods rely on simple hierarchical Poisson models (e.g. negative binomial) to model independent over-dispersion, but do not account for sample non-independence due to relatedness, population structure and/or hidden confounders. Here, we present a Poisson mixed model with two random effects terms that account for both independent over-dispersion and sample non-independence. We also develop a scalable sampling-based inference algorithm using a latent variable representation of the Poisson distribution. With simulations, we show that our method properly controls for type I error and is generally more powerful than other widely used approaches, except in small samples (n <15) with other unfavorable properties (e.g. small effect sizes). We also apply our method to three real datasets that contain related individuals, population stratification or hidden confounders. Our results show that our method increases power in all three data compared to other approaches, though the power gain is smallest in the smallest sample (n = 6). Our method is implemented in MACAU, freely available at www.xzlab.org/software.html.

Exploration of the importance of geriatric frailty on health-related quality of life

AIM

The ageing of the population is a demographic trend globally. Promoting the health of elderly persons has become a crucial priority. However, knowledge about the relationship between frailty and quality of life (QoL) remains limited. This research aimed to investigate the association between elderly frailty and QoL, and to identify whether frailty or current health status more significantly affects the QoL of elderly persons.

METHODS

This research began in 2012, and by the end of the study in April 2013, 375 samples had been collected. Structured questionnaires and the face-to-face questionnaire interviews were used. Multiple linear regression, t-test, and one-way anova were administered.

RESULTS

Elderly individuals who were hospitalized performed worse in the physical health QoL domain, whereas those who regularly attended outpatient follow-ups performed worse in the mental health QoL domain. QoL was only partially affected in both groups. All QoL domains were affected in elderly individuals with symptoms of frailty. Age, marital status, and financial status significantly affect health-related QoL.

CONCLUSION

Geriatric frailty significantly affects general QoL. Early screening of frailty-related conditions among the elderly can prompt early and proper intervention for this population.

Health-related quality of life of Finnish patients with diabetes

AIMS

This study evaluated the influence of diabetes on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) scores of adult patients with diabetes in northern Finland.

METHODS

A total of 3771 patients of the population of 10,264 patients aged ⩾15 years with the right for reimbursement of the cost of diabetes medication attended fundus photography screening for retinopathy in 2012. The 15D HRQoL scores and data on age, sex, type and duration of diabetes were gathered concurrently. The results were compared with the 15D scores reported in Finnish population studies.

RESULTS

The 15D score was obtained from 2461 patients aged 60±14 years; 20% had type 1 diabetes (T1D). The mean±SD 15D index was 0.930±0.079 in patients with T1D and their mean±SD age was 46±15 years. The mean±SD 15D index of the patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) was 0.890±0.100 and their mean±SD age was 63±11 years. The 15D index was no lower than in the Finnish general population in either patient group or in any age group. However, the 15D score was negatively influenced by an increasing duration of diabetes in both patients with T1D and patients with T2D. No sex difference was found.

CONCLUSIONS

The mean HRQoL score of patients with diabetes in this study is comparable with that of the general population of equal age. Neither the type of diabetes nor sex independently affected the HRQoL score, but a longer duration of diabetes seemed to impair the HRQoL score. Current diabetes care appears to maintain a normal HRQoL score in this diabetic population in Finland.

The genetic regulatory signature of type 2 diabetes in human skeletal muscle

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) results from the combined effects of genetic and environmental factors on multiple tissues over time. Of the >100 variants associated with T2D and related traits in genome-wide association studies (GWAS), >90% occur in non-coding regions, suggesting a strong regulatory component to T2D risk. Here to understand how T2D status, metabolic traits and genetic variation influence gene expression, we analyse skeletal muscle biopsies from 271 well-phenotyped Finnish participants with glucose tolerance ranging from normal to newly diagnosed T2D. We perform high-depth strand-specific mRNA-sequencing and dense genotyping. Computational integration of these data with epigenome data, including ATAC-seq on skeletal muscle, and transcriptome data across diverse tissues reveals that the tissue-specific genetic regulatory architecture of skeletal muscle is highly enriched in muscle stretch/super enhancers, including some that overlap T2D GWAS variants. In one such example, T2D risk alleles residing in a muscle stretch/super enhancer are linked to increased expression and alternative splicing of muscle-specific isoforms of ANK1.

The relationship between hypertension and health-related quality of life: adjusted by chronic pain, chronic diseases, and life habits in the general middle-aged population in Japan

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between hypertension and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) adjusted by chronic pain, other chronic diseases, and life habits in the general middle-aged population in Japan.

METHODS

This study is a population-based cross-sectional study. In this study, 1117 participants aged 40-65 years and living in Shika Town completed a self-administered questionnaire including Short Form-36 (SF-36). The scores of SF-36 among hypertensives were compared with those of normotensives. The independent association of hypertension with each SF-36 subscale was analyzed using a multiple linear regression model adjusted by age, BMI, chronic pain, chronic diseases, sleep, exercise, and occupational status. We analyzed two groups; Group 1 which contained 846 participants completed the questionnaire without coronary heart disease and cerebral vascular disease, Group 2 which contained 686 participants without coronary heart disease, cerebral vascular disease, or diseases accompanied by chronic pain (gastroduodenal ulcer, fracture, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and disc herniation).

RESULTS

In Group 2, hypertensive women had a lower general health perception than normotensive women [unstandardized coefficients; B = -8.84, 95 % confidence interval (95 % CI) = -13.3 to -4.34, standardized coefficients; β = -0.200, p < 0.001], whereas hypertensive men had higher social functioning than normotensive men (B = 5.66, 95 % CI = 1.30-10.0, β = 0.149, p < 0.05) after adjusting by chronic pain and life habits.

CONCLUSIONS

These results may be due to the sex difference in the light of the perception for health.

Does Future Diabetes Risk Impair Current Quality of Life? A Cross-Sectional Study of Health-Related Quality of Life in Relation to the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC)

OBJECTIVES

Present study examines the relationship between the estimated risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We quantify the association between Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) and HRQoL, and examine the potential use of FINDRISC as tool to evaluate HRQoL indirectly.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional study comprising 707 Finnish people without a diagnosis of T2D between the ages of 51 and 75 years. The risk of developing T2D was assessed using the validated and widely used FINDRISC (range 0-26 points), and quality of life was measured using two preference-based HRQoL instruments (15D and SF-6D) and one health profile instrument (SF-36). Effects of the individual FINDRISC items and demographic and clinical characteristics, such as co-morbidities, on HRQoL were studied using multivariable Tobit regression models.

RESULTS

Low HRQoL was significantly and directly associated with the estimated risk of developing T2D. An approximate 4-5 point change in FINDRISC score was observed to be associated with clinically noticeable changes in the preference-based instrument HRQoL index scores. The association between HRQoL and the risk of developing T2D was also observed for most dimensions of HRQoL in all applied HRQoL instruments. Overall, old age, lack of physical activity, obesity, and history of high blood glucose were the FINDRISC factors most prominently associated with lower HRQoL.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings may help the health care professionals to substantiate the possible improvement in glucose metabolism and HRQoL potentially achieved by lifestyle changes, and better convince people at high risk of T2D to take action towards healthier lifestyle habits. FINDRISC may also provide an accurate proxy for HRQoL, and thus by estimating the risk of T2D with the FINDRISC, information about patients' HRQoL may also be obtained indirectly, when it is not feasible to use HRQoL instruments.

Predicting Self-Rated Health in Diabetes and Chronic Heart Failure - A Multiple Mediation Model

PURPOSE

Self-rated health (SRH) is a powerful predictor of health-related outcomes such as morbidity and mortality. Aim of the current study was to examine the role of comorbidity, well-being, functional health, and physical limitations as possible predictors of SRH in diabetes and chronic heart failure (CHF).

METHODS

Three large samples with persons suffering from diabetes (n = 974), CHF (n = 955), or both diseases combined (n = 934) were analyzed longitudinally over the course of 4 months. To test the mediating effect of comorbidity, well-being, functional health, and physical limitations in association with former and future SRH multiple mediator models were applied.

RESULTS

Across all groups emotional well-being was a consistent and powerful determinant of SRH. The effects of functional health and physical limitations on SRH were also significant but varied between diagnostic groups. The number of comorbid diseases did not predict SRH.

CONCLUSION

Emotional well-being and physical health appraisal were strong predictors of SRH. Thus, SRH may be improved by influencing well-being and physical health appraisal via targeted interventions.

Phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors for erectile dysfunction in patients with diabetes mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Patients with diabetes mellitus frequently experience erectile dysfunction. This systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to find efficacy and tolerability of phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitors in patients with diabetes mellitus experiencing erectile dysfunction.

METHODOLOGY

Electronic searches were carried out to identify English language peer-reviewed randomized controlled trials (RCTs), which reported clinical efficacy of any PDE5 inhibitor in patients with diabetes mellitus having erectile dysfunction. Effect sizes were computed using Cohen's d, and I(2) -test was used to assess heterogeneity. Pooled mean effect sizes were computed using random-effects model. Number needed to treat (NNT), and the adverse event rates were computed.

RESULTS

The systematic review included a total of 17 studies yielding 25 comparisons. Three studies were open RCTs while others were double-blind RCTs. The pooled mean effect size of any PDE5 inhibitor over placebo was 0.926 (95% confidence intervals [CI]: 0.864-0.987; I(2) =26.3). The pooled mean effect size for sildenafil was 1.198 (CI: 1.039-1.357; I(2) =0), for tadalafil was 0.910 (CI: 0.838-0.981; I(2) =33.6), and for vardenafil was 0.678 (CI: 0.627-0.729; I(2) =0). In pooled analysis, the NNT for sildenafil, tadalafil, vardenafil and any PDE5 inhibitor was 2.4, 2.6, 4.1 and 3.0 respectively. The most common side effects were headache, flushing, and nasal congestion.

CONCLUSIONS

PDE5 inhibitors are effective and safe medications for the treatment of sexual dysfunction in patients with diabetes mellitus experiencing erectile dysfunction.

Health-related quality of life for pre-diabetic states and type 2 diabetes mellitus: a cross-sectional study in Västerbotten Sweden

BACKGROUND

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) decreases health-related quality of life, but there is a lack of information about the health status of people in pre-diabetic states. However, information on health utility weights (HUWs) for pre-diabetic states and T2D are essential to estimate the effect of prevention initiatives. We estimated and compared HUWs for healthy individuals, those with pre-diabetes and those with T2D in a Swedish population and evaluated the influence of age, sex, education and body mass index on HUWs.

METHODS

Participants of the Västerbotten Intervention Program, Sweden, between 2002 and 2012, who underwent an oral glucose tolerance test or indicated they had T2D and who filled in the Short Form-36 questionnaire (SF-36) were included. Individuals were categorized as healthy, being in any of three different pre-diabetic states, or as T2D. The pre-diabetic states are impaired fasting glucose (IFG), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) or a combination of both (IFG&IGT). The SF-6D index was used to convert SF-36 responses to HUWs. HUWs were stratified by age, sex, education and body mass index. Beta regression analyses were conducted to estimate the effect of multiple risk factors on the HUWs.

RESULTS

In total, 55 882 individuals were included in the analysis. The overall mean HUW was 0.764. The mean HUW of healthy individuals was 0.768, 0.759 for those with IFG, 0.746 for those with IGT, 0.745 for those with IFG&IGT, and 0.738 for those with T2D. In the overall model, all variables except underweight vs. normal weight were significantly associated with HUW. Younger age, male sex, and higher education were associated with increased HUW. Normal weight, or being overweight was associated with elevated HUW, while obesity was associated with lower HUW.

CONCLUSIONS

Healthy individuals had higher HUWs than participants with T2D, while individuals with IFG, IGT or IFG&IGT had HUWs that ranged between those for NGT and T2D. Therefore, preventing the development of pre-diabetic states would improve health-related quality of life in addition to lowering the risk of developing T2D.