Self-rated health and multimorbidity in patients with type 2 diabetes

The relationship between multimorbidity and self-rated health is well established. This study examined self-rated health in relation to multimorbidity, glycaemia and body weight specifically in adults with type 2 diabetes. Bootstrapped hierarchical logistic regression and structural equation modelling (SEM) were used to analyse survey data from 280 adults with type 2 diabetes. The odds of ‘fair/bad/very bad’ self-rated health increased 10-fold in patients with three (OR = 10.11 (3.36–30.40)) and four conditions (OR = 10.58 (2.9–38.25)), irrespective of glycaemic control (p < 0.001). The relationship between multimorbidity and perceived health was more pronounced in male patients. SEM generated a model with good fit, χ(2) (CMIN) = 5.10, df = 3, p = 0.164, χ(2) (CMIN)/df = 1.70, RMSEA = 0.05, CFI = 0.97, TLI = 0.95 and NFI = 0.94; self-rated health mediated relations between multimorbidity and BMI. Overall, this study highlights the potential of self-rated health to mediate relationships between multimorbidity and BMI, but not glycaemic control, in adults with type 2 diabetes.