title: Risk of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality: impact of impaired health-related functioning and diabetes: the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle (AusDiab) study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is an established link between health-related functioning (HRF) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality, and it is known that those with diabetes predominantly die of CVD. However, few studies have determined the combined impact of diabetes and impaired HRF on CVD mortality. We investigated whether this combination carries a higher CVD risk than either component alone.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle (AusDiab) study included 11,247 adults aged ≥ 25 years from 42 randomly selected areas of Australia. At baseline (1999-2000), diabetes status was defined using the World Health Organization criteria and HRF was assessed using the SF-36 questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, after 7.4 years of follow-up, 57 persons with diabetes and 105 without diabetes had died from CVD. In individuals with and without diabetes, HRF measures were significant predictors of increased CVD mortality. The CVD mortality risks among those with diabetes or impaired physical health component summary (PCS) alone were similar (diabetes only: hazard ratio 1.4 [95% CI 0.7-2.7]; impaired PCS alone: 1.5 [1.0-2.4]), while those with both diabetes and impaired PCS had a much higher CVD mortality (2.8 [1.6-4.7]) compared with those without diabetes and normal PCS (after adjustment for multiple covariates). Similar results were found for the mental health component summary.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrates that the combination of diabetes and impaired HRF is associated with substantially higher CVD mortality. This suggests that, among those with diabetes, impaired HRF is likely to be important in the identification of individuals at increased risk of CVD mortality.
authors.affiliation: International Public Health Unit, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. emily.d.williams@monash.edu
authors.forename: Emily D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Lal
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rawal
authors.forename: Brian F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Oldenburg
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Renwick
authors.forename: Jonathan E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: Robyn J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Tapp
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000401:mortality; D012307:Risk Factors