Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Nov 24:13:187.
doi: 10.1186/s12955-015-0384-4.

Negative effects of diabetes-related distress on health-related quality of life: an evaluation among the adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in three primary healthcare clinics in Malaysia

Boon-How Chew  1 , Sherina Mohd-Sidik  2 , Sazlina Shariff-Ghazali  3
Affiliations

Negative effects of diabetes-related distress on health-related quality of life: an evaluation among the adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in three primary healthcare clinics in Malaysia

Boon-How Chew et al. Health Qual Life Outcomes. .

Abstract

Background: Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) often experienced change in life, altered self-esteem and increased feelings of uncertainty about the future that challenge their present existence and their perception of quality of life (QoL). There was a dearth of data on the association between diabetes-related distress (DRD) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This study examined the determinants of HRQoL, in particular the association between DRD and HRQoL by taking into account the socio-demographic-clinical variables, including depressive symptoms (DS) in adult patients with T2D.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2012-2013 in three public health clinics in Malaysia. The World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief (WHOQOL-BREF), 17-items Diabetes Distress Scale (DDS-17), and 9-items Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) were used to measure HRQoL, DRD and DS, respectively. The aim of this research was to examine the association between the socio-demographic-clinical variables and HRQoL as well as each of the WHOQOL-BREF domain score using multivariable regression analyses.

Results: The response rate was 93.1% (700/752). The mean (SD) for age was 56.9 (10.18). The majority of the patients were female (52.8%), Malay (53.1%) and married (79.1%). About 60% of the patients had good overall HRQoL. The mean (SD) for Overall QoL, Physical QoL, Psychological QoL, Social Relationship QoL and Environmental QoL were 61.7 (9.86), 56.7 (10.64), 57.9 (11.73), 66.8 (15.01) and 65.3 (13.02), respectively. The mean (SD) for the total DDS-17 score was 37.1 (15.98), with 19.6% (136/694) had moderate distress. DDS-17 had a negative association with HRQoL but religiosity had a positive influence on HRQoL (B ranged between 3.07 and 4.76). Women, especially younger Malays, who had diabetes for a shorter period of time experienced better HRQoL. However, patients who were not married, had dyslipidaemia, higher levels of total cholesterol and higher PHQ-9 scores had lower HRQoL. Macrovascular complications showed the largest negative effect on the overall HRQoL (adjusted B = -4.98, 95% CI -8.56 to -1.40).

Conclusion: The majority of primary care adult with T2D had good overall HRQoL. Furthermore, the independent determinants for HRQoL had also concurred with many past studies. In addition, the researchers found that DRD had negative effects on HRQoL, but religiosity had positive influence on HRQoL. Appropriate support such as primary care is needed for adult patients with T2D to improve their life and their HRQoL.

Trial registration: NMRR-12-1167-14158.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The proportion of responses to the first two items of the WHOQOL-BREF on the overall perception of health. WHOQOL-BREF= World Health Organization Quality of Life- Brief
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The WHOQOL-BREF mean (95 % confidence interval) of the total and domain score according to the three primary healthcare clinics in Malaysia
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hinder S, Greenhalgh T. “This does my head in”. Ethnographic study of self-management by people with diabetes. BMC Health Serv Res. 2012;12:83. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-12-83. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Weaver RR, Lemonde M, Payman N, Goodman WM. Health capabilities and diabetes self-management: the impact of economic, social, and cultural resources. Soc Sci Med. 2014;102:58–68. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.11.033. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Koch T, Kralik D, Sonnack D. Women living with type II diabetes: the intrusion of illness. J Clin Nurs. 1999;8:712–22. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2702.1999.00320.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Stuckey HL, Mullan-Jensen CB, Reach G, Kovacs-Burns K, Piana N, Vallis M, et al. Personal accounts of the negative and adaptive psychosocial experiences of people with diabetes in the Second Diabetes Attitudes, Wishes and Needs (DAWN2) Study. Diabetes Care. 2014;37(9):2466–74. doi: 10.2337/dc13-2536. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Nicolucci A, Kovacs Burns K, Holt RI, Comaschi M, Hermanns N, Ishii H, et al. Diabetes Attitudes, Wishes and Needs second study (DAWN2): cross-national benchmarking of diabetes-related psychosocial outcomes for people with diabetes. Diabet Med. 2013;30:767–77. doi: 10.1111/dme.12245. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types