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Determinants of health-related quality of life of patients with type 2 diabetes and multimorbidity: a cross-sectional study

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Abstract

Purpose

To examine the determinants of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients with type 2 diabetes (PwD) and multimorbidity (MM) (at least one co-occurring condition besides T2D) among sociodemographic, disease-related, and MM variables and the association of MM with therapeutic targets.

Methods

A total of 179 PwD attending primary care (PC) in Greece answered the 15 dimension HRQoL (15D) questionnaire between August 2019 and October 2020. Sociodemographic, disease-related, and MM characteristics were recorded. MM was categorized as concordant or discordant based on whether or not it was related to the pathophysiology of T2D. Independent predictors of the 15D score were examined in stepwise regression models among sociodemographic, disease-related, and MM variables and the association of MM with glycated hemoglobin (A1C) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was assessed.

Results

The mean 15D score was 0.85 ± 0.11 and the mean MM count was 4.3 ± 1.8. Significant predictors of a higher 15D score were male gender, married state, higher monthly income, and more physical activity. Significant predictors of a lower 15D score were employment, depression, musculoskeletal disease, coronary artery disease, neuropathy, and MM count, but discordant had a stronger effect than concordant MM. Increasing MM count was not significantly correlated with A1C and was correlated with lower LDL-C.

Conclusion

Non-medical (physical activity and sociodemographic) rather than disease-related characteristics and discordant more than concordant co-occurring conditions affected HRQoL of multimorbid PwD who did not have worse (A1C) or achieved better (LDL-C) therapeutic targets. A generalist approach to the non-medical needs and overall health conditions of PwD could be promoted in PC within the social determinants of health and MM.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Professor Mr. Harri Sintonen, University of Helsinki, Finland, for the permission to use the 15D instrument, provision of the Greek translation and processing of data, Mrs. Paraskevi Vonta for her assistance in collecting the data and the participants of this study.

Funding

No funding was received for the conduct of this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Local Health Team unit of Thebes, Thebes, Boeotia, Greece

    Kyriakos Kintzoglanakis

  2. General Hospital of Thebes, Thebes, Boeotia, Greece

    Leonidas Pavlou-Skantzis & Tatiana Themeli

  3. Independent Scientific Investigator, Athens, Greece

    Miltiades Kyprianou

  4. Endocrine Unit and Diabetes Center, School of Medicine, Alexandra Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Stavroula A. Paschou

Authors
  1. Kyriakos Kintzoglanakis
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  5. Stavroula A. Paschou
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kyriakos Kintzoglanakis.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

Approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the 5th Regional Health Authority of Thessaly and Sterea, Central Greece. The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Competing interests

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose, except that Dr. Stavroula A. Paschou is an Associate Editor of Hormones journal.

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Kintzoglanakis, K., Pavlou-Skantzis, L., Themeli, T. et al. Determinants of health-related quality of life of patients with type 2 diabetes and multimorbidity: a cross-sectional study. Hormones (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42000-024-00545-y

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