Factors associated with quality of life among elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: the role of family caregivers

Abstract Background As a long-term chronic disease, Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients’ quality of life is affected by both themselves and his/ her close relatives, requiring comprehensive support from family members to ensure that patients are able to manage disease. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between caregivers’ sense of coherence, caregiver competence, and T2DM patients’ quality of life, as well as to explore the factors affecting patients with T2DM patients. Methods This investigation was a cross-sectional study. Between October 2022 and July 2023, 392 participant-caregiver dyads from two hospitals in Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, were researched. Participants were investigated by General Characteristics Questionnaire, Modified Barthel Index (MBI), Diabetes Specific Quality of Life Scale (DSQLS), Sense of Coherence scale-13 (SOC-13), and Family Caregiver Task Inventory (FCTI). Data were statistically analyzed using SPSS 25. Univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses were used to identify the independent factors associated with the quality of life of elderly patients with T2DM. Results The average score of T2DM quality of life was 61.14 (SD = 7.37), quality of life was negatively correlated with sense of coherence ( r =-0.344, P <0.01) and positively correlated with caregiver competence ( r = 0.522, P <0.01). Furthermore, we found that age, disease duration, activities of daily living scores, sense of coherence, and caregiver competence scores were the main predictors of quality of life (R 2 = 0.375, P < 0.001). Conclusions This study found that high levels of sense of coherence and caregiver competence in family caregivers were associated with better quality of life for patients. Furthermore, we also found that good quality of life was also related to younger age, shorter disease duration, and less dependence. This study offers a feasible example for policymakers to improve the quality of life from the perspective of T2DM patients’ family caregivers.