HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE IN POORLY CONTROLLED TYPE 2 DIABETES PATIENTS - ASSOCIATION OF PATIENTS’ CHARACTERISTICS WITH EQ-5D DOMAINS, MEAN EQ-5D SCORES, AND VISAUL ANALOG SCALE SCORE

Abstract

Objective: High prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Malaysia demands the appropriate interventions to alleviate or postpone its burden on patients’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The studies which provide useful knowledge about the components of such interventions are important. The aim of this study was to describe how demographic and clinical characteristics of diabetes patients influence their HRQoL using EQ-5D.Methods: This study used the baseline data of a randomized controlled study carried out to examine the impact of a pharmacist intervention on poorly controlled diabetes patients. A generic HRQoL tool EQ-5D was used to report the data. Logistic regression was used to identify the predictors of problems in individual EQ-5D domains, and ANCOVA was undertaken to examine the effect of patients’ characteristic on EQ-5D mean scores and visual analog scale (VAS) mean scores.Results: Pain discomfort was reported to be significantly predicted by high HbA1c levels. Increasing age (OR =1.04; CI 1.01, 1.16) and increasing body mass index (OR = 1.15; CI 1.01, 1.30) were significant predictors of reduced mobility. The presence of complications (OR = 8.03; CI 1.34–48.02) and (5–10 years) diabetes duration predicted the reduced score in anxiety domain (OR = 7.05; CI 1.03, 48.04). Problems in usual activities were significantly predicted by age (OR = 1.4; CI 1.01, 1.18). Self-care was not affected by any of the model covariates. Mean EQ-5D score was (0.89; CI 0.85, 0.92) significantly predicted by HbA1c values (p=0.04). Mean VAS score (70.54) was significantly lower in the group receiving insulin (69.46; CI 73.74, 84.02) than the oral diabetes medication (78.88; CI 64.94, 73.98) (p=0.009).Conclusion: Patients’ characteristics were significantly associated with the HRQoL in type 2 diabetes. There was a significant and inverse association of HRQoL with medication group (insulin use), high HbA1c, obesity, and presence of complications.