BackgroundDiabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with high mortality, morbidity, poor general health, and loss of health-related quality of life (HRQOL). The objective of the study was to assess the factors associated with HRQOL among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).MethodsThis was a cross sectional study conducted among 283 T2DM patients during June 2011 and September 2012 at a major tertiary hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The respondents were purposively and conveniently selected according to their availability during their routine visit to the outpatient clinics and they were interviewed using the Arabic version of the Short-Form 36-item survey (SF-36) to assess the HRQOL.ResultsThe mean age of the participants was 56.4±13.2 years. Around 63% (178) were males and 37% (105) were females. Glycosylated hemoglobin level was found to be significantly higher among female and HRQOL was higher among male. Respondents who were more than 50 years old had poor HRQOL than less than 50 years age group. Poor economic status, reported diabetic complications and longer duration of diabetes were significantly associated with poor HRQOL. The respondents treated with combination of therapies (oral medication plus insulin) indicated better HRQOL than patients with insulin therapy alone. Multivariate analysis indicated that gender, economic status (except subscale energy), and complications of DM (except subscale energy) as independent risk factor for HRQOL.ConclusionGender, economic status, and complication of DM were independent risk factors for majority of the subscales of HRQOL.

The World Health Organization has ranked Saudi Arabia as having the second highest rate of diabetes in the Middle East (7th highest in the world) with an estimated population of 7 million living with diabetes and more than 3 million with pre-diabetes. This presents a pressing public health problem. Several challenges in diabetes management need to be tackled in Saudi Arabia, including the growing prevalence (chiefly among children and young adults), micro-and macrovascular complications, lifestyle changes, late diagnosis, poor awareness and high treatment costs. Over the last two decades, the Saudi population saw an increase in the expenses in healthcare and treatment of diabetes by more than 500%. In 2014, the health care budget was 180 billion (Saudi Riyal) of which 17 billion was spent on all Saudis, with an approximate 25 billion on the entire Saudi diabetic population. This implies that the direct expense of diabetes is costing Saudi Arabia around 13.9% of the total health expenditure. Therefore, unless a comprehensive epidemic control program/ multidisciplinary approach is stringently enforced, the diabetes mellitus burden on Saudi Arabia will probably increase to very serious levels. It is crucial to implement improved health and health-related quality of life of to those with diabetes, thus minimizing the social and personal expenses for diabetes care in Saudi Arabia. In this study we discuss the significant and major threats posed by diabetes mellitus to the Saudi population and recommend essential possible solutions to delay/ prevent this formidable issue.

Background:A high prevalence of low serum testosterone (LST) in men with type 2 diabetes have been reported worldwide. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and associated factors of LST in men with type 2 diabetes.Materials and Methods:This was a cross-sectional study, conducted among 1,089 men (aged 30-70 years) with type 2 diabetes who consecutively attended a major diabetes center in Amman, Jordan, between August 2008 and February 2009. The patients’ demographic characteristics were collected using a prestructured questionnaire. Duration of diabetes, smoking habits, presence of retinopathy, neuropathy, and nephropathy were collected from the medical records. All participants were asked to complete the Androgen Deficiency in Ageing Male (ADAM) questionnaire. Venous blood sample was collected to test for total testosterone (TT), free testosterone (FT), sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), prolactin (PRL), serum lipids, and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c). LST was defined as TT <3 ng/ml.Results:Overall, 36.5% of patients with diabetes had TT level <3 ng/ml and 29% had symptoms of androgen deficiency. Of those with serum testosterone level <3 ng/ml, 80.2% had symptoms of androgen deficiency, 16.9% had primary hypogonadism (HG), and 83.1% had secondary HG. Univariate analysis showed a significant relationship between age, income, education, body mass index (BMI), smoking, duration of diabetes, diabetic nephropathy, diabetic neuropathy, and HbA1c. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated age, income, BMI, and diabetic neuropathy as the independent risk factors of LST.Conclusions:The prevalence of LST among men with type 2 diabetes is high. Age, income, BMI, and diabetic neuropathy were found to be the independent risk factors for LST.

No abstract

Background/objectives:In the current era of modern technology and the development of smart devices such as the flash glucose monitoring (FGM) systems, patients can easily monitor their glucose levels more frequently without any inconvenience. In this study, we evaluate the effect of FreeStyle Libre FGM system on glycemic control, hypoglycemia, health-related quality of life (QoL), and the fear of hypoglycemia (FOH) among children and young people with type 1 diabetes (T1D).Design and methods:A prospective study was conducted at the Diabetes Treatment Center, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, between January 2017 and May 2017 on 47 (aged 13-19 years) registered patients with T1D who used conventional finger-pricking method for self-testing the glucose. At baseline visit, the FGM sensors were placed on each participant by a trained diabetes educator. The data collected from the sensors were computed to generate the respective ambulatory glucose profiles so as to determine the total number of scans conducted during the study period. At the baseline and at 3 months of the experiment, a trained interviewer administered the questionnaire Hypoglycemia Fear Survey-Child Version (HFS-C) and PedsQL 3.0 (QoL questionnaire) to each patient. The age, sex, weight, height, adjusted body mass index, duration of diabetes, treatment modality, and glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels of each patient were recorded.Results:As compared with the baseline, a significant improvement was noted in the behavior of FOH (P = .0001), worry (P = .0001), QoL (P = .002), HbA1c level (P = .008), and hypoglycemia (P = .023) at 3 months. Significant improvement was noted in the behavior (P = .0001), worry (P = .0001), QoL (P = .003), HbA1c level (P = .014), and hypoglycemia (P = .001) among the multiple-dose insulin injection–treated patients as compared with baseline. Significant improvement was noted in the behavior (P = .0001), worry (P = .0001), and hypoglycemia (P = .001) among the insulin pump–treated patients as compared with baseline. A positive correlation was recorded in the behavior (r = .47; P < .001), QoL (r = .70; P < .001), and the mean number of FGM scans. A negative correlation was recorded in the worry (r = −.43; P = .002), HbA1c level (r = −.58; P < .001), hypoglycemia (r = −.65; P < .001), and the mean number of FGM scans.Conclusions:The frequent use of FGM scanning reduced the frequency of hypoglycemia, HbA1c level, and worry and increased the behavior and QoL. As compared with self-testing by the conventional finger-pricking method, the use of FGM increased the frequency of self-testing and thus diabetes control.