The impact of type 2 diabetes mellitus on daily functioning

Traditionally, health and the outcomes of medical treatment have been measured in terms of morbidity, incidence or prevalence of disease, or even mortality. This disease model provides an adequate framework for acute illnesses, but for chronic diseases, severity and their effect on everyday functioning are paramount. For chronic diseases, functional health status, as a vital part of quality of life, is now recognized as an important outcome measure of the GP's care.

We aimed to assess the impact of type 2 diabetes mellitus on functional health status in Dutch general practice.

We conducted a cross-sectional study of the functional health status of all patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus under 85 in two general practices, using the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP) and the COOP/WONCA charts. A control group of non-diabetic patients was selected, matched for practice, sex and age.

In total, 127 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients and 127 controls participated in the study, the responses being 78 and 70%, respectively. Between these groups the following were significantly different: the SIP subscore Physical, the SIP sum score and the COOP/WONCA scores for physical fitness and overall health. Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients were 2.46 (95% CI 1.5-4.1) times more likely to experience functional impairment. Cardiovascular morbidity (odds ratio 2.5, 95% CI 1.3-4.7), locomotory morbidity (odds ratio 2.6, 95% CI 1.4-5.1) and diabetes itself (odds ratio 1.4, 95% CI 1.1-1.9) were significantly associated with the presence of functional impairment.

This study demonstrates the impact of type 2 diabetes mellitus on functional status, particularly in relation to cardiovascular morbidity.