title: Disability-Free Life-Years Lost Among Adults Aged ≥50 Years With and Without Diabetes.
abstract: To quantify the impact of diabetes status on healthy and disabled years of life for older adults in the U.S. and provide a baseline from which to evaluate ongoing national public health efforts to prevent and control diabetes and disability.
  
  
  
  Adults (n = 20,008) aged 50 years and older were followed from 1998 to 2012 in the Health and Retirement Study, a prospective biannual survey of a nationally representative sample of adults. Diabetes and disability status (defined by mobility loss, difficulty with instrumental activities of daily living [IADL], and/or difficulty with activities of daily living [ADL]) were self-reported. We estimated incidence of disability, remission to nondisability, and mortality. We developed a discrete-time Markov simulation model with a 1-year transition cycle to predict and compare lifetime disability-related outcomes between people with and without diabetes. Data represent the U.S. population in 1998.
  
  
  
  From age 50 years, adults with diabetes died 4.6 years earlier, developed disability 6-7 years earlier, and spent about 1-2 more years in a disabled state than adults without diabetes. With increasing baseline age, diabetes was associated with significant (P < 0.05) reductions in the number of total and disability-free life-years, but the absolute difference in years between those with and without diabetes was less than at younger baseline age. Men with diabetes spent about twice as many of their remaining years disabled (20-24% of remaining life across the three disability definitions) as men without diabetes (12-16% of remaining life across the three disability definitions). Similar associations between diabetes status and disability-free and disabled years were observed among women.
  
  
  
  Diabetes is associated with a substantial reduction in nondisabled years, to a greater extent than the reduction of longevity.
authors.affiliation: Division of Diabetes Translation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA Immunization Safety Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA bfb7@cdc.gov.
authors.forename: Barbara H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Bardenheier
authors.affiliation: Division of Diabetes Translation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.
authors.forename: Ji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Division of Diabetes Translation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA Merck & Co., North Wales, PA.
authors.forename: Xiaohui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhuo
authors.affiliation: Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA.
authors.forename: Mohammed K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.affiliation: Division of Diabetes Translation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.
authors.forename: Theodore J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Division of Diabetes Translation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.
authors.forename: Yiling J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Division of Diabetes Translation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.
authors.forename: Edward W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Gregg
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D012737:Sex Factors