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Quality of life not substantially worse in adults with type 1 diabetes, celiac disease
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Adults with type 1 diabetes and celiac disease do not report worse quality of life compared with adults with type 1 diabetes or celiac disease alone or those without either disease, recent data indicate.
Marcia S. Queiroz, MD, PhD, assistant professor, division of endocrinology and metabolism, department of internal medicine, University of São Paulo Medical School, and colleagues evaluated 60 adults to determine the quality of life of those with type 1 diabetes and celiac disease. Participants were equally divided into four groups based on their diagnoses: type 1 diabetes and celiac disease, type 1 diabetes only, celiac disease only and healthy controls.
Participants with type 1 diabetes and/or celiac disease had lower scores for functional capacity, physical limitations, pain and social aspect on the 36-item Short-Form Survey, but differences did not reach statistical significance. However, compared with healthy controls, participants with diabetes scored statistically significantly lower for general health (P = .042) and energy/vitality (P = .012).
A significant difference was found between participants with diabetes and the other three groups for complications associated with diabetes for health status (P = .22), vitality (P = .22), pain (P = .27), mental health (P = .3) and emotional limitations (P = .00031).
Adherence to a gluten-free diet was associated with better quality of life in participants with celiac disease.
“The importance of this study was to point out that [type 1 diabetes] associated with [celiac disease] was not related to worsening [quality of life], nor did it have a negative impact on glycemic control in a population of individuals matched for age and gender with others, who have just of these diseases and share similar social environment,” the researchers wrote. “This information seems to be valuable to understand the health-disease process and to contribute to the reevaluation of promotion, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of the patient’s health.” – by Amber Cox
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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