The challenge of living with diabetes in women and younger adults : A structural equation model

Background: Attitudes toward diabetes care are different between genders and age-groups. Furthermore, diabetes related challenges may cause psychosocial problems. Therefore, we were to compare the psychosocial status and glycemic control in women and men with type 2 diabetes (T2D) in different age-groups. Methods: 441 adults with T2D were recruited. Demographic, self-care behavior, resources and affective variables as well as the health related quality of life (HRQoL) were measured. The median age of 55 was used as the cut-off for the age comparison. Structured equation modeling (SEM) investigated the relationship between age, gender, psychosocial factors and glycemic control. Results: Finally, 203 women and 177 men completed the study (86.1%). There was no significant difference in mean duration of T2D, or glycemic control between genders or age-groups. Women, especially those below the median age of 55, had significantly higher level of diabetes-related distress (2.16. ±. 0.94 vs. 1.92. ±. 0.81), depression (9.67. ±. 5.37 vs. 7.54. ±. 5.06), and anxiety (19.81. ±. 12.04 vs. 12.81. ±. 9.04, P. <. 0.05 for all comparisons), while people above the age of 55 reported better self-management and patient-physician relationship. HRQoL was lower in women compared to men (0.77. ±. 0.23 vs. 0.81. ±. 0.18, P = 0.02). The final SEM suggested that the effect (standardized β coefficient) of gender and age on affective variables was 0.25 and -0.19 (P. <. 0.05), respectively, though psychosocial factors did not directly influence HbA1c. Conclusions: This study shows that psychosocial factors are associated with age and gender in patients with T2D; with younger women demonstrating higher level of depressive symptoms, anxiety, and diabetes-related distress independent of status of glycemic control