Association between variation in hemoglobin A1c levels and diabetes therapy‐related quality of life in patients with diabetes

Abstract

Abstract Aims/Introduction We aimed to investigate the association between glycemic variability and quality of life (QOL) in patients with diabetes, which has not been studied previously. Materials and Methods Patients who were undergoing treatment at the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine Hospital and Kameoka City Hospital participated in the KAMOGAWA‐DM study, and completed the diabetes therapy‐related (DTR)‐QOL questionnaire from January 2016 to July 2020 were included in this study. We used linear regression analyses to compare the association between DTR‐QOL scores and glycemic variability. Results We included a total of 635 patients in this analysis. The hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels of these patients were measured at least four times during the 9‐month period, before and after answering the questionnaire. Results showed that HbA1c variability, HbA1c mean and duration of diabetes were negatively associated with the total DTR‐QOL score. Conversely, the body mass index and total DTR‐QOL score were positively associated with HbA1c variability. Conclusions A small variation in HbA1c level was associated with higher total DTR‐QOL scores and the scores for each factor. Reducing blood glucose variability is significant when we treat diabetes.

Keywords

• Diabetes mellitus
• Diabetes therapy‐related quality of life
• Variation in hemoglobin A1c