Health related quality of life in older Mexican Americans with diabetes: a cross-sectional study.
BACKGROUND
The older Hispanic population of the U.S. is growing at a tremendous rate. While ethnic-related risk and complications of diabetes are widely-acknowledged for older Hispanics, less is known about how health related quality of life is affected in this population.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study assessing differences in health related quality of life between older Mexican Americans with and without diabetes. Participants (n = 619) from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly were interviewed in their homes. The primary measure was the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF-36).


RESULTS
The sample was 59.6% female with a mean age of 78.3 (SD = 5.2) years. 31.2% (n = 193) of the participants were identified with diabetes. Individuals with diabetes had significantly (F = 19.35, p < .001) lower scores on the Physical Composite scale (mean = 37.50, SD = 12.69) of the SF-36 compared to persons without diabetes (mean = 43.04, SD = 12.22). There was no significant difference between persons with and without diabetes on the Mental Composite scale of the SF-36.


CONCLUSIONS
Diabetes was associated with lower health related quality of life in older Mexican Americans. The physical components of health related quality of life uniformly differentiated those with diabetes from those without, whereas mental component scores were equivocal.
Graham
James E
JE
Division of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, USA. jegraham@utmb.edu
Stoebner-May
Diane G
DG
Ostir
Glenn V
GV
Al Snih
Soham
S
Peek
M Kristen
MK
Markides
Kyriakos
K
Ottenbacher
Kenneth J
KJ
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile