More health risk for Diabetes patients

NEW YORK, Nov 18: Adults with diabetes are more than three times more likely to rate their overall health as fair or poor than are adults without diabetes, according to a report published Thursday in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This likely reflects the harmful effects of diabetes and its complications on quality of life, note the authors of the report from the CDC's Division of Diabetes Translation, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

Consistent with prior studies, self-reports of fair or poor health were associated with several health risk factors such as smoking and obesity. ''Persons with diabetes should quit smoking through smoking cessation programs and control their weight through exercise and a healthy diet,'' the report states.

Self-rated fair or poor health was also associated with certain indicators of diabetes severity, such as having the disease for a long time and having to take insulin to control blood sugar.

Certain subgroups of diabetics such as older persons, women, Hispanics, people with less than a high school education, and those with no health insurance were also more apt to describe their health as fair or poor.

To gauge the prevalence of self-rated fair or poor health among US adults with diabetes, the CDC investigators analyzed 1996-2005 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

During 2005, an estimated 49.3 per cent of adults 18 years of age or older with diabetes described their health as fair or poor.

After adjusting for age, the prevalence of fair or poor health among adult diabetics was 46.7 per cent -- more than three times the rate among adults without diabetes (14.2 per cent).

Among adult diabetics aged 18 to 44 years, the prevalence of self-rated fair or poor health rose from 35.6 per cent in 1996 to 43.4 per cent in 2005.

These findings ''underscore the need for continued interventions to promote healthy behaviors and prevent diabetes and interventions for persons with diabetes to help them better manage their diabetes and prevent diabetes complications, which can increase their perceived quality of life,'' the authors state. Diabetes affects nearly 21 million Americans.

Reuters