The impact of a diabetes diagnosis on health and well-being: Findings from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Camilla Böhme Kristensen; Joseph Chilcot; Sarah E Jackson; Andrew Steptoe; Ruth A Hackett

doi:10.1111/1753-0407.13518

The impact of a diabetes diagnosis on health and well-being: Findings from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

J Diabetes. 2023 Dec 19. doi: 10.1111/1753-0407.13518. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Camilla Böhme Kristensen¹, Joseph Chilcot¹, Sarah E Jackson², Andrew Steptoe², Ruth A Hackett¹

Affiliations

¹ Health Psychology Section, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
² Department of Behavioural Science and Health, Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, University College London, London, UK.

PMID: 38112231
DOI: 10.1111/1753-0407.13518

Abstract

Background: Poorer health and well-being are associated with diabetes risk. However, little is known about the trajectory of health and well-being from before to after diabetes diagnosis. We compared depressive symptoms, quality of life, self-rated health, and loneliness at three time points (prediagnosis, diagnosis, 2-4 years post diagnosis) in individuals who developed diabetes and a comparison group.

Methods: Health and well-being measures were self-reported by 3474 participants from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Repeated measures analysis of variance and generalized estimating equations were used to investigate differences by group, time, and group-by-time interactions.

Results: A total of 473 (13.6%) participants developed diabetes. The diabetes group reported greater depressive symptoms (W² (1) = 20.67, p < .001) and lower quality of life (F = 1, 2535 = 10.30, p = .001) and were more likely to rate their health as fair/poor (W² (1) = 67.11, p < .001) across time points, adjusting for age, sex, and wealth. They also reported greater loneliness (F = 1, 2693 = 9.70, p = .002) in unadjusted analyses. However, this was attenuated to the null in adjusted analyses. The group-by-time interaction was significant for quality of life (F = 1.97, 5003.58 = 5.60, p = .004) and self-rated health (W² (2) = 11.69, p = .003), with a greater decline in these measures over time in the diabetes group in adjusted analyses.

Conclusion: People who received a diabetes diagnosis had greater depressive symptoms, lower quality of life, and poorer self-rated health than those who did not develop diabetes. Quality of life and self-rated health deteriorated more rapidly following a diagnosis. Screening for these factors around the time of diagnosis could allow for interventions to improve the health and well-being of those with diabetes.

Keywords: diabetes; diagnosis; health; quality of life; well-being.