Factors associated with quality of life in 747 patients with type 2 diabetes in Tongzhou District and Shunyi District of Beijing

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the situation of quality of life in patients with type 2 diabetes and its associated factors. METHODS: Questionnaires, physical examination and glycated hemoglobin test were conducted in 747 patients with type 2 diabetes. Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) was a proxy for glycemic control, diabetes specific quality of life scale (DSQL) score was a proxy for quality of life. Factors associa-ted with DSQL were analyzed by multiple linear regression and structural equation modeling (SEM). RESULTS: A total of 747 patients were included in this study. The mean HbA1c level was (7.1±1.2)%, with 35.1% reaching the target (262/747). There were significant differences in disease duration, me-dication and use of insulin, smoking, and body mass index (BMI) between the two groups with good and poor glycemic control (P < 0.05). The total score of DSQL was 44.92±13.32, in which average phy-siological factors were the highest, then followed by scores of psychological factors. Multiple linear regression showed that monthly household income, comorbidities, depression, duration of illness, insulin, hospitalization, and self-efficacy were significantly associated with the total score of DSQL (P < 0.05). SEM showed that blood glucose control was significantly associated with the scores of physical factors (0.166), psychological factors (0.076), and social factors (0.124) of DSQL, respectively. Depression had effects on the physical factors (0.342), psychological factors (0.217), and treatment factors (0.050) of DSQL (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Glycemic control in our study is relatively poor but the quality of life remains well. More attention should be paid to patients who are male, with long diagnosis duration, poor medication adherence, smoking, with depression and with low diabetes-related skills. In practice, health practitioners should be aware of psychological needs of patients, and offer mental health education to patients and their families, in order to help patients manage blood glucose and improve their quality of life.