Predictors Affecting Diabetes Related Distress among Diabetes Patients

BACKGROUND: Diabetics experienced distress due to the disease. This distress may impact the quality of life and adherence to treatment by the diabetics. Thus, this study is aimed at identifying the factors affecting diabetes-related distress (DRD) among diabetic patients. METHODS: A total of 100 diabetic subjects aged 18 years old and above were recruited. Data on socio-demographic data, anthropometry, hand grip strength (HGS) and body fat percentage were obtained. DRD was assessed using the Malay version of the 17-item diabetes distress scale (MDDS-17) questionnaire. Multiple linear regression was employed to identify the predictors of DRD and the significance value was set at P < 0.05. RESULTS: The majority of the subjects had low DRD (93%). Univariate analysis revealed that higher DRD scores were correlated with being single, never exercising and having lower education level, body weight, body fat percentage, body mass index (BMI) as well as HGS (P < 0.05). However, further multivariate regression analysis revealed that only smoking and being single/divorced/widow were the predictors of DRD. CONCLUSION: Predictors of DRD in this study were smoking and being either single/divorced/widow. These factors must be taken into consideration during the medical management of diabetics in order to ensure more holistic management of the disease and the distress it caused.