Self-care, quality of life and clinical outcomes of type 2 diabetes patients: an observational cross-sectional study.

AIMS: To describe self-care of T2DM patients and to evaluate outcomes associated with self-care in T2DM patients.

METHODS: A multicentre cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 302 randomly selected T2DM patients. Clinical and socio-demographic data were collected by medical records. The Summary of Diabetes Self-care Activities was used to measure self-care about diet, blood testing, exercise and foot care. The EQ-5D was used to measure perceived quality of life. Multiple regression models were used to evaluate the associations between self-care and body mass index (BMI), glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), presence of diabetes complications and quality of life (QoL).

RESULTS: Self-care was lower about exercise (median = 2.0) and foot care (median = 3.5) than about diet (median = 5.2) and blood testing (median = 4.5). HbA1c was associated with diet (p = 0.025), exercise (p = 0.017) and blood testing (p = 0.034). BMI was associated with exercise (p = 0.0071). Diabetes complications were associated with exercise (p = 0.031) and blood testing (p < 0.009). QoL was associated with exercise (p < 0.0001), blood testing (p = 0.032) and foot care (p = 0.013).

CONCLUSIONS: Self-care influences both clinical outcomes and quality of life of T2DM patients. Although exercise is more frequently associated with positive outcomes, it is particularly poor in T2DM population. Blood testing and foot care should be performed to prevent complications and not only when a health problem is already occurred. Interventions aimed to improve exercise are recommended. Further research is needed to explore barriers to exercise.