OBJECTIVES: The prevalence rates of diabetes in the United States (US) have been increasing. Patients with diabetes are at an increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases (CVD), resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. This study examined the Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) associated with comorbid CVD among patients with diabetes in the US.

METHODS: The study involved an analysis of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data from 2010-2018. Patients with diabetes were included in the analysis. The patient’s CVD status was defined as having either heart disease, coronary heart disease, or angina pectoris. The outcome of interest was HRQoL based on the Quality of Well Being scale. An inverse probability of treatment weighted (IPTW) regression analysis was conducted to assess the HRQoL associated with CVD among patients with diabetes after controlling for sociodemographic and clinical factors.

RESULTS: The study included a total of 29,868 (weighted 6.15 million) patients with diabetes; there were 8,696 (weighted 3.06 million) patients with both diabetes and CVD. The majority of patients with diabetes and CVD were above 65 years of age (58%), were non-Hispanic white (70%), males (51%), having education attainment above grade 12 (79%) and were above the poverty line (74%). Hypertension (58%) and arthritis (63%) were the most prevalent comorbidities. The IPTW regression analysis found that diabetes patients with CVD (0.62 (Standard Error [SE]:01)) had a 0.05 (SE:0.01) unit lower HRQoL compared to patients with diabetes alone (0.67 (SE:0.01)).

CONCLUSIONS: The study found HRQoL decreased with comorbid CVD among patients with diabetes, underscoring the importance of managing CVD to improve quality of life in diabetes.