Predictors of mortality of patients newly diagnosed with clinical type 2 diabetes: a 5-year follow up study

The effect of structured personal care on diabetes symptoms and self-rated health over 14 years after diabetes diagnosis

AIMS

To explore the effect of structured personal care on diabetes symptoms and self-rated health over 14 years after diabetes diagnosis while patients are gradually diagnosed with other chronic conditions (multimorbidity).

METHODS

Post hoc analysis of the Danish randomized controlled trial Diabetes Care in General Practice including 1381 patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. The effect of structured personal care compared with routine care on diabetes symptoms and self-rated health was analysed 6 and 14 years after diagnosis with a generalized multilevel Rasch model.

RESULTS

Structured personal care reduced the overall likelihood of reporting diabetes symptoms at the end of the intervention (OR 0.79; 95% CI: 0.64-0.97), but this effect was not explained by glycaemic control or multimorbidity. There was no effect of the intervention on diabetes symptoms after 14 years or on self-rated health after 6 years or 14 years.

CONCLUSIONS

Structured personal care had a beneficial effect on diabetes symptoms 6 years after diagnosis, but not on self-rated health at either follow up point. To optimally manage patients over time it is important to supplement clinical information by information provided by the patients.

Physical inactivity and cardiac events: An analysis of the Detection of Ischemia in Asymptomatic Diabetics (DIAD) study

AIMS

Diabetes affects 29 million adults, and the majority have type 2 diabetes (T2D). Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death, and physical inactivity is an important risk factor. The aims of this study were to examine the contribution of physical inactivity to CAD events, and to identify the independent predictors of CAD events in a sample of older adults with T2D.

METHOD

A secondary data analysis of the prospective randomized screening trial "Detection of Ischemia in Asymptomatic Diabetics (DIAD)" study. Cox proportional hazard modeling was used to examine the outcome of CAD events.

RESULTS

During the five years of follow-up, the CAD event rate for all subjects (n = 1119) was 8.4% (n = 94). In unadjusted analysis, physical inactivity was significantly associated with development of a CAD event. In the final model, nine baseline variables were significant predictors (p < 0.05) of a CAD: physical inactivity, race, diabetes duration, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), peripheral numbness, insulin use, increasing waist-to-hip ratio, family history of premature CAD, and a higher pulse pressure. In men only, there were five predictors (p < 0.05) of a CAD event: diabetes duration, peripheral numbness, HbA1c, increasing waist-to-hip ratio, and higher pulse pressure. The final model in women included three independent predictors (p < 0.05) of a CAD event: diabetes duration, a family history of premature CAD, and higher pulse pressure.

CONCLUSION

Several variables predicted CAD events in this sample of older adults with T2D. Understanding baseline characteristics that heighten risk may assist providers in intervening early to prevent its occurrence.

The joint association of self-rated health and diabetes status on 14-year mortality in elderly men and women

PURPOSE

Low self-rated health (SRH) has been found to be associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and with mortality. We examined the possible interaction between SRH and diabetic state on all-cause mortality in a large cohort of elderly subjects, followed for 14 years.

METHODS

During the years 2000-2004, survivors of the nationwide longitudinal Israel Study of Glucose Intolerance, Obesity and Hypertension were interviewed and examined for the third follow-up. The 1037 participants (mean age 72.4 ± 7.2 years) were asked to rate their health as: excellent, good, fair, poor, or very poor. Glucose categories were as follows: Normoglycemic, Prediabetes, T2D and Undiagnosed diabetes. Survival time was defined as the time from interview to date of death or date of last vital status follow-up (August 1, 2013). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were performed in order to assess whether SRH interacts with glycemic state in the association with mortality.

RESULTS

A better SRH was reported by those with undiagnosed than known diabetes, and best for normoglycemic and prediabetic individuals. While all individuals with fair or poor/very poor SRH were at increased risk of mortality compared to those with excellent/good SRH, in the known diabetic individuals a greater hazard was observed in the excellent/good SRH (HR 3.32, 95 % CI 1.71-6.47) than in those with fair or poor/very poor SRH (HR 2.19, 95 % CI 1.25-3.86), after adjusting for age, sex, ethnic origin, marital status, education, BMI, physical activity, CVD, tumors, and creatinine level (p for interaction = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Self-rated health is not a sensitive tool for predicting mortality in elderly men and women with known T2D.

Physical activity, sedentary behavior and all-cause mortality among blacks and whites with diabetes

PURPOSE

The study objective was to examine the role of physical activity (PA) and sedentary time (ST) on mortality risk among a population of low-income adults with diabetes.

METHODS

Black (n = 11,137) and white (n = 4508) men and women with diabetes from the Southern Community Cohort Study self-reported total PA levels and total ST. Participants were categorized into quartiles of total PA and total ST. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for subsequent mortality risk were estimated from Cox proportional hazards analysis with adjustment for potential confounders.

RESULTS

During follow-up, 2370 participants died. The multivariable risk of mortality was lower among participants in the highest quartile of PA compared with those in the lowest quartile (HR, 0.64; 95% CI: 0.57-0.73). Mortality risk was significantly increased among participants in the highest compared with the lowest quartile of ST after adjusting for PA (HR, 1.21; 95% CI: 1.08-1.37). Across sex and race groups, similar trends of decreasing mortality with rising PA and increasing mortality with rising ST were observed.

CONCLUSIONS

Although causality cannot be established from these observational data, the current findings suggest that increasing PA and decreasing ST may help extend survival among individuals with diabetes irrespective of race and sex.

Change in self-rated general health is associated with perceived illness burden: a 1-year follow up of patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes

Background

Diabetic patients’ lifestyle adaptations to improve glycaemic control are not always followed by improvements in self-rated general health (SRH). The perceived impact of diabetes on patients’ daily lives may influence changes in their SRH. This paper examines the association of illness severity, treatment, behavioural, and coping-related factors with changes in SRH from diagnosis of type 2 diabetes until one year later, in a population-based sample of 599 patients aged 40 years or over who were treated in general practice.

Methods

Change in SRH was estimated by a cumulative probit model with the inclusion of covariates related to SRH (e.g. illness severity at diagnosis, behaviour, treatment, and the perceived impact of diabetes on patients’ daily lives one year later).

Results

At diagnosis, 11.6% of patients reported very good, 35.1% good, 44.6% fair and 8.5% poor SRH. Physical inactivity, many diabetes-related symptoms, and cardiovascular disease were related to lower SRH ratings. On average SRH improved by 0.46 (95% CI: 0.37; 0.55) during the first year after diagnosis without inclusion of covariates. Mental and practical illness burden was the only factor associated with change in SRH, independent of patients’ diabetes severity and medical treatment (p = 0.03, multivariate analysis). Compared to otherwise similar patients without illness burden, increase in SRH was marginally smaller among patients who expressed minor illness burden, but much smaller among patients with more pronounced illness burden.

Conclusions

Much as one would expect, many patients increased their SRH during the first year after diabetes diagnosis. This increase in SRH was not associated with indicators of illness severity or factors reflecting socio-demographic circumstances, but patients experiencing illness burden had a smaller increase than those who reported no illness burden. We suggest that during the diabetes consultation, general practitioners explore further how patients manage their illness burden. We further suggest that diabetes guidelines extend their current focus on clinical and social aspects of diabetes to include questions on patient’s perceived illness burden and SRH.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-015-1790-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The association between self-rated health and impaired glucose tolerance in Swedish adults: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE

To investigate gender differences in the association between self-rated health (SRH) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) in subjects unaware of their glucose tolerance.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional population-based study.

SETTING

The two municipalities of Vara and Skövde in south-western Sweden.

SUBJECTS

A total of 2502 participants (1301 women and 1201 men), aged 30-75, were randomly selected from the population.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

IGT was regarded as the outcome measure and SRH as the main risk factor.

RESULTS

The prevalence of IGT was significantly higher in women (11.9%) than in men (10.1%), (p = 0.029), as was the prevalence of low SRH (women: 35.4%; men: 22.1%, p = 0.006). Both men and women with low SRH had a poorer risk factor profile than those with high SRH, and a statistically significant crude association between SRH and IGT was found in both men (OR = 2.8, 95% CI 1.8-4.4) and women (OR = 1.5, 95% CI 1.0-2.2, p = 0.033). However, after controlling for several lifestyle factors and biomedical variables, the association was attenuated and remained statistically significant solely in men (OR = 2.3, 95% CI 1.2-4.3).

CONCLUSION

The gender-specific associations found between SRH and IGT suggest that SRH may be a better indicator of IGT in men than in women. Future studies should evaluate the utility of SRH in comparison with objective health measures as a potential aid to health practitioners when deciding whether to screen for IGT and T2DM.

Inconsistency in albuminuria predictors in type 2 diabetes: a comparison between neural network and conditional logistic regression

Albuminuria is a sensitive marker to predict future cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, current studies only use conventional regression models to discover predictors of albuminuria. We have used 2 different statistical models to predict albuminuria in type 2 diabetes mellitus: a multilayer perception neural network and a conditional logistic regression. Neural network models were used to predict the level of albuminuria in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, which include a matched case-control study for the population. For each case, we randomly selected 1 control matched by age and body mass index (BMI). The input variables were sex, duration of diabetes, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, glomerular filtration rate, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein/triglyceride ratio, cholesterol, fasting blood sugar, and glycated hemoglobin. Age and BMI were included only in the neural network model. This model included 4 hidden layers and 1 bias. Relative error of predictions was 0.38% in the training group, 0.52% in the testing group, and 1.20% in the holdout group. The most robust predictors of albuminuria were high-density lipoprotein (21%), cholesterol (14.4%), and systolic blood pressure (9.7%). Using the conditional logistic regression model, glomerular filtration rate, time of onset to diabetes, and sex were significant indicators in the onset of albuminuria. Using a neural network model, we show that high-density lipoprotein is the most important factor in predicting albuminuria in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Our neural network model complements the current risk factor models to improve the care of patients with diabetes.

Leisure-time physical activity is a significant predictor of stroke and total mortality in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes: analysis from the Japan Diabetes Complications Study (JDCS)

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS

Our aim was to clarify the association between leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and cardiovascular events and total mortality in a nationwide cohort of Japanese diabetic patients.

METHODS

Eligible patients (1,702) with type 2 diabetes (mean age, 58.5 years; 47% women) from 59 institutes were followed for a median of 8.05 years. A comprehensive lifestyle survey including LTPA and occupation was performed using standardised questionnaires. Outcome was occurrence of coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke and total mortality. The adjusted HR and 95% CI were calculated by Cox regression analysis.

RESULTS

A significant reduction in HR in patients in the top (≥ 15.4 metabolic equivalents [MET] h/week) vs the bottom tertile (≤ 3.7 MET h/week) of LTPA, adjusted by age, sex and diabetes duration, was observed in stroke (HR 0.55, 95% CI 0.32, 0.94) and total mortality (HR 0.49, 95% CI 0.26, 0.91) but not in CHD (HR 0.77, 95% CI 0.48, 1.25). The HR for stroke became borderline significant or nonsignificant after adjustment for lifestyle or clinical variables including diet or serum lipids. The significantly reduced total mortality by LTPA was independent of these variables and seemed not to be, at least mainly, attributed to reduced cardiovascular disease.

CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION

In Japanese persons with type 2 diabetes, LTPA of 15.4 MET h/week or more was associated with a significantly lower risk of stroke partly through ameliorating combinations of cardiovascular risk factors. It was also associated with significantly reduced total mortality but independently of cardiovascular risk factors or events. These findings, implying differences from Western diabetic populations, should be considered in the clinical management of East Asians with diabetes.

Association between urinary markers of nucleic acid oxidation and mortality in type 2 diabetes: a population-based cohort study

OBJECTIVE

We recently showed that RNA oxidation, estimated by urinary excretion of 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanosine (8-oxoGuo), independently predicted mortality in a cohort of 1,381 treatment-naive patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. In the present investigation, we analyzed urine collected 6 years after the diagnosis to assess the association between urinary markers of nucleic acid oxidation and mortality in patients with established and treated diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We used data from the 970 patients who attended the screening for diabetes complications 6 years after the diagnosis. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to examine the relationship between urinary markers of DNA oxidation (8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine [8-oxodG] [n = 938]) and RNA oxidation (8-oxoGuo [n = 936]) and mortality.

RESULTS

During a median of 9.8 years of follow-up, 654 patients died. Urinary 8-oxoGuo assessed 6 years after the diagnosis was significantly associated with mortality. The multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios for all-cause and diabetes-related mortality of patients with 8-oxoGuo levels in the highest quartile compared with those in the lowest quartile were 1.86 (95% CI 1.34-2.58) and 1.72 (1.11-2.66), respectively. Conversely, 8-oxodG was not associated with mortality. In addition, we found an association between changes in 8-oxoGuo from diagnosis to 6-year follow-up and mortality, with increased risk in patients with an increase and decreased risk in patients with a decrease in 8-oxoGuo.

CONCLUSIONS

The RNA oxidation marker 8-oxoGuo is an independent predictor of mortality in patients with established and treated type 2 diabetes, and changes in 8-oxoGuo during the first 6 years after diagnosis are associated with mortality.

Association between physical activity and risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes: a meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

The association between habitual physical activity (PA) and lowered risk of all-cause mortality (ACM) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been suggested in patients with diabetes. This meta-analysis summarizes the risk reduction in relation to PA, focusing on clarifying dose-response associations.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Electronic literature searches were conducted for cohort studies that examined relative risk (RR) of ACM or CVD in relation to PA in patients with diabetes. For the qualitative assessment, RR for the highest versus the lowest PA category in each study was pooled with a random-effects model. We added linear and spline regression analyses to assess the quantitative relationship between increases in PA and ACM and CVD risk.

RESULTS

There were 17 eligible studies. Qualitatively, the highest PA category had a lower RR [95% CI] for ACM (0.61 [0.52-0.70]) and CVD (0.71 [0.60-0.84]) than the lowest PA category. The linear regression model indicated a high goodness of fit for the risk of ACM (adjusted R(2) = 0.44, P = 0.001) and CVD (adjusted R(2) = 0.51, P = 0.001), with the result that a 1 MET-h/day incrementally higher PA was associated with 9.5% (5.0-13.8%) and 7.9% (4.3-11.4%) reductions in ACM and CVD risk, respectively. The spline regression model was not significantly different from the linear model in goodness of fit (P = 0.14 for ACM risk; P = 0.60 for CVD risk).

CONCLUSIONS

More PA was associated with a larger reduction in future ACM and CVD risk in patients with diabetes. Nevertheless, any amount of habitual PA was better than inactivity.

Mortality among low-income African Americans and whites with diabetes

OBJECTIVE

To estimate mortality rates and risk factors for mortality in a low-socioeconomic status (SES) population of African Americans and whites with diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We determined mortality among African Americans and whites aged 40-79 years with (n = 12,498) and without (n = 49,914) diabetes at entry into a cohort of participants recruited from government-funded community health centers. Multivariable Cox analysis was used to estimate mortality hazard ratios (HRs) (95% CI) among those with versus those without diabetes and among those with diabetes according to patient characteristics.

RESULTS

During follow-up (mean 5.9 years), 13.5% of those with and 7.3% of those without diabetes died. All-cause mortality risk was higher among those with versus without diabetes for both African Americans (HR 1.84 [95% CI 1.71-1.99]) and whites (1.80 [1.58-2.04]), although among those with diabetes, mortality was lower among African Americans than whites (0.78 [0.69-0.87]). Mortality risk increased with duration of diabetes and was greater among patients on insulin therapy and reporting histories of cardiovascular disease (CVD), hypertension, and stroke. The HRs associated with these multiple risk factors tended to be similar by sex and race, with the exception of a differentially higher impact of prevalent CVD on mortality among African Americans (interaction P value = 0.03), despite a lower baseline prevalence of CVD.

CONCLUSIONS

In this population with similarly low SES and access to health care, strong and generally similar predictors of mortality were identified for African Americans and whites with diabetes, with African Americans at a moderately but significantly lower mortality risk.

Excess risk of mortality and cardiovascular events associated with smoking among patients with diabetes: meta-analysis of observational prospective studies

BACKGROUND

Numerous studies have demonstrated that both smoking and diabetes are risk factors for mortality and caused-specific cardiovascular events. However, few studies systematically investigated to what extent the excess risk could be attributed to smoking among diabetic patients.

METHODS

Literature references were searched up to April 2011 in MEDLINE and EMBASE, supplemented by manual searches. Inclusion criteria were prospective cohort studies, assessment of the association between smoking and total mortality, cardiovascular death, incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke and myocardial infarction (MI) in diabetic patients.

RESULTS

Of 3758 studies in the literature searched, 46 were eligible with approximately 130,000 diabetic patients. The relative risk (RR) comparing smokers with nonsmokers was 1.48[95% confidential interval (CI): 1.34-1.64] for total mortality (27 studies), 1.36(1.22-1.52) for cardiovascular mortality (9 studies), 1.54(1.31-1.82) for CHD (13 studies), 1.44(1.28-1.61) for stroke (9 studies) and 1.52(1.25-1.83) for MI (7 studies). Furthermore, the excess risk was observed among former and current smokers with a greater risk in current smokers. Subgroup analysis showed that the increased risk appeared to be consistent regardless of several study characteristics with the RRs ranging from 1.31 to 1.94 for all-cause mortality, 1.37 to 2.28 for CHD, 1.21 to 1.87 for stroke, 1.13 to 1.74 for cardiovascular mortality and 1.15 to 2.01 for MI.

CONCLUSION

Smoking amplified the risk of mortality as well as cardiovascular events and the effect size for CHD appeared to be higher than other events in diabetic patients. Moreover, a trend of decreasing risk was observed among smoking quitters.

The association between glucometabolic disturbances, traditional cardiovascular risk factors and self-rated health by age and gender: a cross-sectional analysis within the Malmö Preventive Project

BACKGROUND

The increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in diabetic compared to non-diabetic subjects seems to decrease with age. Whether this age-related reduction applies to CVD risk factors, and whether it is limited to established diabetes mellitus (DM) or also applies to pre-diabetic conditions are not well known.

METHODS

Using a cross-sectional design we compared the strength of the correlation between glucometabolic disturbances (by grouping), CVD risk factor burden and self-rated health, in two age groups: middle-aged (57-69 years) and older (70-86 years) subjects, (63% men), participating in the Malmö Preventive Project Re-examination Study (n=18,238). Simple (unadjusted) logistic regression analysis was applied to estimate between-group differences and trends. Interaction analysis was applied to estimate differences between age groups.

RESULTS

CVD risk factor burden and the proportion of subjects reporting poor self-rated health increased with increasing glucometabolic disturbance for men and women in both age groups (p-trend<0.0001 for all). The slope of the trend curve with increasing CVD risk factor burden was significantly steeper for older women than for older men (p-interaction=0.002). The slope of the trend curve for poor self-rated health was significantly steeper for middle-aged than for older men (p-interaction=0.005), while no difference was observed between the age groups among women (p-interaction=0.97).

CONCLUSIONS

We found no reduction in risk factor accumulation with increasing glucometabolic disturbance between middle-aged and older subjects. Our results indicate life-long CVD risk factor clustering with increased glucometabolic disturbance, and suggest that previously observed age-related reduction in excess CVD risk for subjects with DM might be due to a survival bias. However, our observations indicate more pronounced risk factor clustering and worse self-rated health with increased glucometabolic disturbance in older women than in older men.

Albuminuria and Diabetic Retinopathy in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Sankara Nethralaya Diabetic Retinopathy Epidemiology And Molecular Genetic Study (SN-DREAMS, report 12)

BACKGROUND

The concordance of microalbuminuria and diabetic retinopathy (DR) has been well reported in persons with type 1 diabetes; however, for type 2 diabetes, there is paucity of data especially from population-based studies. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of albuminuria (micro - and macroalbuminuria) among persons with type 2 diabetes and determine its role as a risk factor for presence and severity of DR.

METHODS

A population-based cross sectional study was conducted in cohort of 1414 subjects with type 2 diabetes from Chennai metropolis. All the subjects underwent comprehensive eye examination including 45 degrees four-field stereoscopic digital photography. DR was clinically graded using Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study scales. A morning urine sample was tested for albuminuria. Subjects were considered to have microalbuminuria, if the urinary albumin excretion was between 30 and 300 mg/24 hours, and macroalbuminuria at more than 300 mg/24 hours. The statistical software used was SPSS for Windows, Chicago, IL. Student t-test for comparing continuous variables, and χ2 test, to compare proportions amongst groups were used.

RESULTS

The prevalence of microalbuminuria in the study subjects was 15.9% (226/1414), and that of macroalbuminuria, 2.7% (38/1414). Individuals with macroalbuminuria in comparison to micro- or normoalbuminuria showed a greater prevalence of DR (60.5% vs. 31.0% vs. 14.1%, p < 0.001), and also a greater severity of the disease (60.9% vs. 21.4 vs. 9.9, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Every 6th individual in the population of type 2 diabetes is likely to have albuminuria. Subjects with microalbuminuria were around 2 times as likely to have DR as those without microalbuminuria, and this risk became almost 6 times in the presence of macroalbuminuria.