Table 4.

Minimally important differences of the DQOL

	Anchor 1: Self-reported diabetes severity				Anchor 2: General health status				Anchor 3: global quality of life				SEM
DQOL	Category	Mean	Difference in mean†	MID§	Category	Mean	Difference in mean	MID	Category	Mean	Difference in mean	MID
SAT#	1–3	39.42	-	2.62	1	44.33	-	4.90	1–3	42.21	-	2.99	3.71
	4	36.33	3.12‡		2	36.58	13.24		4	36.36	5.87
	5	33.66	2.32‡		3	32.00	5.11‡		5	33.23	2.99‡
	6	31.28	2.41‡		4	26.26	4.68‡		6	32.05	1.38
	7	24.52	7.54		5	14.38	8.48		7	23.24	8.50
IMP#	1–3	32.17	-	4.06	1	35.58	-	3.60	1–3	28.82	-	4.52	4.58
	4	22.17	10.26		2	22.17	3.59‡		4	22.58	5.70‡
	5	19.42	2.88‡		3	19.05	7.94		5	20.30	2.51
	6	15.36	4.01‡		4	10.61	3.64‡		6	15.99	4.95‡
	7	10.28	5.29‡		5	7.81	13.74		7	12.33	2.91‡
WOR#	1–3	33.93	-	6.53	1	32.50	-	5.62	1–3	26.74	-	6.97	7.97
	4	26.90	7.28‡		2	27.34	4.58‡		4	29.41	-3.26
	5	25.46	1.46		3	25.98	14.02		5	23.19	6.66‡
	6	19.78	5.79‡		4	10.63	1.89		6	21.93	2.30
	7	10.02	10.93		5	9.38	6.67‡		7	12.84	7.27‡
ALL#	1–3	35.05	-	3.09	1	38.19	-	3.72	1–3	33.25	-	4.13	3.02
	4	28.02	7.22		2	28.18	7.21		4	28.64	4.27‡
	5	25.51	2.44‡		3	24.83	7.94		5	25.40	3.37‡
	6	21.78	3.73‡		4	16.20	3.72‡		6	22.72	3.23‡
	7	15.32	7.03		5	10.42	10.68		7	16.31	5.63‡

† Covariate adjustment: age, gender, education background, and duration

‡ Differences in mean HRQOL scores across adjacent categories with corresponding effect size 0.2–0.5

§ MID: minimally important difference, which is the average of the differences in mean HRQOL scores across adjacent categories with effect size 0.2–0.5

# SAT: satisfaction; IMP: impact; WOR: worry; ALL: overall