This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Jonsson, P. M. Articles by Wall, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Jonsson, P. M. Articles by Wall, S. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Sociodemographic predictors of self-rated health in patients with diabetes of short duration

Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of International Health (IHCAR), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, pia.maria.jonsson{at}phs.ki.se

Lennarth Nyström

Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, UmeÅ University, UmeÅ, Sweden

Göran Sterky

Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of International Health (IHCAR), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm

Stig Wall

Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, UmeÅ University, UmeÅ, Sweden

Aims: To examine the impact of gender and socioeconomic factors on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) one year and eight years after diabetes diagnosis. Methods: Two national incidence cohorts who contracted diabetes between the ages of 15 and 34 years (n= 554) and matched control groups from the general population of Sweden (n= 1,029) were surveyed. Data on HRQoL, diabetes treatment, marital status, education, social class, and employment were collected via a questionnaire mailed to the younger cohort (aged 16-35) one year after diagnosis and to the older cohort (aged 23-42) eight years after diagnosis. Response rates were 73% among people with diabetes and 68% among the controls. Multivariable linear regression models were used to analyse the impact of gender and socioeconomic factors on HRQoL in the diabetic and control groups. The dependent variable was the ``general health perceptions'' score of the SWED-QUAL instrument, which corresponds to the ``global self-rated health'' concept. Results: A model including all the sociodemographicvariables explained 6% of the variance in self-rated health one year after diabetes diagnosis and 13% of the variance eight years after diagnosis. In the control groups, the level of explanation was 2-3%. Female gender was an independent predictor of poor self-rated health in the older diabetic cohort, but not in the younger cohort. Conclusions: Gender and socioeconomic factors were more closely associated with self-rated health eight years after diabetes diagnosis than one year after diagnosis, indicating early sociodemographic stratification in the health of the diabetic populations studied.

Key Words: diabetes mellitus • female • quality of life • social class • Sweden.

Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, Vol. 29, No. 4, 263-270 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/14034948010290041101


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?