Impacts of gestational diabetes on quality of life in Chinese pregnant women in urban Tianjin, China

Abstract

AimsThis study aimed to examine impacts of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) on quality of life (QoL) domains in Chinese pregnant women. MethodsWe recruited 13,358 pregnant women in Tianjin, China. GDM was diagnosed using the criteria of International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Group. QoL was measured using the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey. General linear model was used to obtain β-coefficient and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of GDM for QoL domain and summary scores. Results7.25% of the pregnant women developed GDM. Among the QoL domain and summary scores, only general health (GH) score was lower in the GDM group than in the non-GDM group. GDM and advanced maternal age (i.e., ≥ versus <30 years) were negatively associated with GH in multivariable analyses (β-coefficient: −1.17, 95%CI: −2.17 to −0.17 & −0.79, −1.40 to −0.18, respectively). In subgroup analyses, the β-coefficient of GDM for GH among women with maternal age ≥30 years was enhanced to −2.17 (−3.94 to −0.40) in multivariable analysis while the β-coefficient of GDM for GH among women aged <30 years was attenuated to non-significance. ConclusionsGDM and advanced maternal age were associated with reducing GH, and presence of advanced maternal age markedly increased the effect of GDM on GH.