Health related quality of life and comorbidity. A descriptive analysis comparing EQ-5D dimensions of patients in the German disease management program for type 2 diabetes and patients in routine care

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Abstract

Background

The co-occurance of multiple medical conditions has a negative impact on health related quality of life (HRQoL) for patients with type 2 diabetes. These patients demand for intensified care programs. Participation in a disease management program (DMP) for type 2 diabetes has shown to counterbalance this effect. However, it remains unclear which dimensions of HRQoL are influenced by the DMP. The aim of this study was to explore the HRQoL dimensions of patients with type 2 diabetes in the German DMP and patients in routine care (RC).

Methods

This analysis is part of a comparative evaluation of the German DMP for patients with type 2 diabetes. A questionnaire, including the HRQoL measure EQ-5D, was mailed to a random sample of 3,546 patients with type 2 diabetes (59.3% female). The EQ-5D dimensions were analyzed by grouping patients according to their participation in the German DMP for diabetes into DMP and RC.

Results

Compared to patients in DMP, patients in RC reported more problems for the dimensions mobility (P < 0.05), self care (P < 0.05) and performing usual activities (P < 0.01). Depending on the number of other conditions, remarkable differences for reporting "no problems" exist for patients with six or more comorbid conditions regarding the dimensions mobility (RC = 8.7%, DMP = 32.3%), self care (RC = 43.5%, DMP = 64.5%), usual activities (RC = 13.0%, DMP = 33.9%) and anxiety or depression (RC = 37.0%, DMP = 48.4%).

Conclusion

Patients participating in the German DMP for type 2 diabetes mellitus show significantly higher ratings of their HRQoL in the dimensions mobility, self care and performing usual activities compared to patients in RC. This difference can also be observed in patients with significant comorbidities. As these dimensions are known to be essential for diabetes care, the German DMP may contribute to improved care even for comorbid diabetes patients.

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Most cited references 14

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A single European currency for EQ-5D health states. Results from a six-country study.

David Parkin, Paul Kind, Siem Oppe … (2003)

The EQ-5D questionnaire is a widely used generic instrument for describing and valuing health that was developed by the EuroQol Group. A primary objective of the EuroQol Group is the investigation of values for health states in the general population in different countries. As part of the EuroQol enterprise 11 population surveys were carried out in six Western European countries (Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK) to value health states as defined by the EQ-5D using a standardised visual analogue scale (EQ-5D VAS). This contribution reports how a European set of general population preference weights was derived from the data collected in the 11 valuation studies. The scores from this set of preference weights can be applied to generate a VAS-based weighted health status index for all the potential 243 EQ-5D health states for use in multi-national studies. To estimate the preference weights a multi-level regression analysis was performed on 82,910 valuations of 44 EQ-5D health states elicited from 6,870 respondents. Stable and plausible solutions were found for the model parameters. The R(2) value was 75%. The analysis showed that the major source of variance, apart from 'random error', was variance between individuals (28.3% of the total residual variance). These results suggest that VAS values for EQ-5D health states in six Western European countries can be described by a common model.

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Quality of life in type 2 diabetic patients is affected by complications but not by intensive policies to improve blood glucose or blood pressure control (UKPDS 37). U.K. Prospective Diabetes Study Group.

C. A. Cull, Z Mehta (1999)

To determine in patients with type 2 diabetes the effects on quality of life (QOL) of therapies for improving blood glucose control and for improving blood pressure (BP) control, diabetic complications, and hypoglycemic episodes. We performed two cross-sectional studies of patients enrolled in randomized controlled trials of 1) an intensive blood glucose control policy compared with a conventional blood glucose control policy, and 2) a tight BP control policy compared with a less tight BP control policy. Also undertaken was a longitudinal study of patients in a randomized controlled trial of an intensive blood glucose control policy compared with a conventional blood glucose control policy. Subjects' QOL was assessed before or at the time of randomization and from 6 months to 6 years after randomization. Two cross-sectional samples of type 2 diabetic patients were randomized to therapies for blood glucose control: 1) 2,431 patients, mean age 60, duration from randomization 8.0 years, completed a "specific" questionnaire covering four aspects of QOL, and 2) 3,104 patients, mean age 62, duration from randomization 11 years, completed a "generic" QOL measure. Of these samples, 628 and 747 patients, respectively, were also randomized to therapies for BP control. A sample of 122 non-diabetic control subjects, average age 62, were also given the specific questionnaire. A longitudinal sample of 374 type 2 diabetic patients randomized to either intensive or conventional blood glucose policies, mean age at randomization 52, were given the specific questionnaire. Sample-sizes at 6 months and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 years after randomization were 322, 307, 280, 253, 225, 163, and 184, respectively. The specific questionnaire assessed specific domains of QOL, including mood disturbance (Profile of Mood State), cognitive mistakes (Cognitive Failures Questionnaire), symptoms, and work satisfaction; the generic questionnaire (EQ5D) assessed general health. Both questionnaires were self-administered. The cross-sectional studies showed that allocated therapies were neutral in effect, with neither improvement nor deterioration in QOL scores for mood, cognitive mistakes, symptoms, work satisfaction, or general health. The longitudinal study also showed no difference in QOL scores for the specific domains assessed, other than showing marginally more symptoms in patients allocated to conventional than to intensive policy. In the cross-sectional studies, patients who had had a macrovascular complication in the last year had worse general health, as measured by the generic questionnaire, than those without complications, with scale scores median 60 and 78 respectively (P = 0.0006) and tariff scores median 0.73 and 0.83 respectively (P = 0.0012); more problems with mobility, 64 and 36%, respectively (P < 0.0001); and more problems with usual activities, 48 and 28% respectively (P = 0.0023). As measured by the specific questionnaire, they also showed reduced vigor (P = 0.0077). Patients who had had a microvascular complication in the last year reported more tension (P = 0.0082) and total mood disturbance (P = 0.0054), as measured by the specific questionnaire, than patients without complications. Patients treated with insulin who had had two or more hypoglycemic episodes during the previous year reported more tension (P = 0.0023), more overall mood disturbance (P = 0.0009), and less work satisfaction (P = 0.0042), as measured by the specific questionnaire, than those with no hypoglycemic attacks, after adjusting for age, duration from randomization, systolic BP, HbA1c, and sex in a multivariate polychotomous regression. In patients with type 2 diabetes, complications of the disease affected QOL, whereas therapeutic policies shown to reduce the risk of complications had no effect on QOL. It cannot be discerned whether frequent hypoglycemic episodes affect QOL, or whether patients with certain p

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Valuing health-related quality of life in diabetes.

J Todd Coffey, Michael Brändle, Honghong Zhou … (2002)

Cost-utility analyses use information on health utilities to compare medical treatments that have different clinical outcomes and impacts on survival. The purpose of this study was to describe the health utilities associated with diabetes and its treatments, complications, and comorbidities. We studied 2,048 subjects with type 1 and type 2 diabetes recruited from specialty clinics at a university medical center. We administered a questionnaire to each individual to assess demographic characteristics, type and duration of diabetes, treatments, complications, and comorbidities, and we used the Self-Administered Quality of Well Being index (QWB-SA) to calculate a health utility score. We then created regression models to fit the QWB-SA-derived health utility scores to indicator variables for type 1 and type 2 diabetes and each demographic variable, treatment, and complication. The coefficients were arranged in clinically meaningful ways to develop models to describe penalties from the health utility scores for nonobese diabetic men without additional treatments, complications, or comorbidities. The utility scores for nonobese diet-controlled men and women with type 2 diabetes and no microvascular, neuropathic, or cardiovascular complications were 0.69 and 0.65, respectively. The utility scores for men and women with type 1 diabetes and no complications were slightly lower (0.67 and 0.64, respectively). Blindness, dialysis, symptomatic neuropathy, foot ulcers, amputation, debilitating stroke, and congestive heart failure were associated with lower utility scores. Major diabetes complications are associated with worse health-related quality of life. The health utility scores provided should facilitate studies of the health burden of diabetes and the cost-utility of alternative strategies for the prevention and treatment of diabetes.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Health Serv Res

Title: BMC Health Services Research

Publisher: BioMed Central

ISSN (Electronic): 1472-6963

Publication date Collection: 2011

Publication date (Electronic): 2 August 2011

Volume: 11

Page: 179

Affiliations

[1 ]Department of General Practice and Health Services Research, University Hospital of Heidelberg, Vosstrasse 2, D-69115 Heidelberg, Germany

[2 ]Institute of Medical Biometry and Informatics, University Hospital of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 305, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany

Article

Publisher ID: 1472-6963-11-179

DOI: 10.1186/1472-6963-11-179

PMC ID: 3161848

PubMed ID: 21810241

SO-VID: 12e56e7c-0763-4fbc-b0d1-b9cf3e2e6be5

License:

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Health related quality of life and comorbidity. A descriptive analysis comparing EQ-5D dimensions of patients in the German disease management program for type 2 diabetes and patients in routine care

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Most cited references 14

A single European currency for EQ-5D health states. Results from a six-country study.

Quality of life in type 2 diabetic patients is affected by complications but not by intensive policies to improve blood glucose or blood pressure control (UKPDS 37). U.K. Prospective Diabetes Study Group.

Valuing health-related quality of life in diabetes.

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