Comparison of health-related quality of Life (HRQOL) among patients with pre-diabetes, diabetes and normal glucose tolerance, using the 15D-HRQOL questionnaire in Greece: the DEPLAN study

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus is usually preceded by a pre-diabetic stage before the clinical presentation of the disease, the influence of which on persons’ quality of life is not adequately elucidated. The purpose of this study was to compare the Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) of persons with pre-diabetes with that of diabetes or normal glucose tolerance (NGT), using the validated HRQOL-15D questionnaire. METHODS: The HRQOL-15D scores of 172 people with pre-diabetes (108 with Impaired Fasting Glucose [IFG], 64 with Impaired Glucose Tolerance [IGT], aged 58.3 ± 10.3 years) and 198 with NGT (aged 54.4 ± 10.1 years) from the Greek part of the DEPLAN study (Diabetes in Europe - Prevention using Lifestyle, Physical Activity and Nutritional Intervention), were compared to 100 diabetes patients’ scores (aged 60.9 ± 12.5 years, diabetes duration 17.0 ± 10.0 years, HbA1c 7.2 ± 1.2%), derived from the outpatient Diabetes Clinic of a University Hospital. RESULTS: The diabetes patients’ HRQOL-15D score (0.8605) was significantly lower than the pre-diabetes’ (0.9008) and the controls’ (0.9092) (p < 0.001). There were no differences in the total score between the controls and the group with pre-diabetes. However, examination of individual parameters of the score showed that people with IGT had lower scores compared to the control group, as related to the parameters of “mobility” and “psychological distress”. No differences were found in any component of the HRQOL-15D score between the control group and the IFG group, nor between the two groups with pre-diabetes (IFG vs. IGT). CONCLUSIONS: Persons with pre-diabetes had a similar HRQOL score with healthy individuals, and a higher score than persons with diabetes. Specific components of the score, however, were lower in the IGT group compared to the controls. These findings help clarify the issue of HRQOL of persons with pre-diabetes and its possible impact on prevention.