Negative effect of a previous diagnosis of diabetes on quality of life in a Japanese population: The Gifu Diabetes Study.

Abstract

To evaluate the effect of a previous indication of hyperglycemia or previous diagnosis of diabetes on quality of life (QOL) in a randomly selected population from Gifu City, Japan. In total, 452 males and 648 females were enrolled in this study. We collected information on previous indications of hyperglycemia and previous diagnoses of diabetes using a self-reported questionnaire. Participants also completed the World Health Organization Quality of Life-26 (WHOQOL-26) questionnaire and provided blood samples for the measurement of fasting plasma glucose and glycated hemoglobin levels. A 75-g oral glucose tolerance test was also performed. We compared QOL scores between the previous indication of hyperglycemia group and previous diagnosis of the diabetes group to those of the control group. WHOQOL-26 scores were significantly lower in the previous diagnosis of diabetes group than in the control group (3.23±0.43 vs. 3.45±0.43; p<0.01). However, WHOQOL-26 scores in the previous indication of hyperglycemia group were not significantly different from those of the control group. Lowering of WHOQOL-26 scores was significantly affected by the previous diagnosis of diabetes not by the plasma glucose levels. Our study suggests that a previous diagnosis of diabetes has a negative effect on QOL in a Japanese population. Health promotion and education that take QOL into account should be considered for people diagnosed with diabetes.