Table 1.
Characteristics of the study sample (n = 452)
| Mean (SD)/median (IRQ)/n (%) | |
|---|---|
| Sociodemographic characteristics | |
| Age (years)* | 71.8 (7.3) |
| 60 – 64 | 84 (18.6%) |
| 67 – 69 | 95 (21.0%) |
| 70 – 74 | 109 (24.1%) |
| ≥75 | 164 (36.3%) |
| Sex | |
| Male | 185 (40.9%) |
| Female | 267 (59.1%) |
| Marital status | |
| Married | 318 (70.5%) |
| Single/divorced/widowed/separated | 133 (29.5%) |
| No. children | |
| 0 | 25 (5.5%) |
| 1 – 2 | 155 (34.3%) |
| 3 – 4 | 175 (38.7%) |
| ≥5 | 97 (21.5%) |
| Living alone | |
| No | 405 (89.6%) |
| Yes | 47 (10.4%) |
| Education | |
| No formal education | 118 (26.5%) |
| Primary | 171 (38.3%) |
| Secondary | 71 (15.9%) |
| Tertiary or above | 86 (19.3%) |
| Adequacy of income | |
| Not enough | 54 (12.0%) |
| Just enough | 180 (40.1%) |
| More than enough | 215 (47.9%) |
| Working status | |
| Retired/unemployed | 337 (74.6%) |
| Full-time/part-time working/housekeeper | 115 (25.4%) |
| Lifestyle characteristics | |
| Smoking status | |
| Never smoker | 350 (77.4%) |
| Ex-smoker | 82 (18.1%) |
| Current smoker | 20 (4.4%) |
| Drinking status | |
| Never drinker | 397 (87.8%) |
| Former drinker | 35 (7.7%) |
| Current drinker | 20 (4.4%) |
| Doing exercise regularly | |
| No | 86 (19.0%) |
| Yes | 366 (81.0%) |
| Frequency of exercise per week | |
| 0 | 86 (19.6%) |
| 1 – 3 | 85 (19.4%) |
| 4 – 6 | 41 (9.3%) |
| 7 | 227 (51.7%) |
| Average duration per each time of exercise | |
| Does not exercise | 86 (19.5%) |
| ≤30 min | 138 (31.3%) |
| 31–60 min | 149 (33.8%) |
| >60 min | 68 (15.4%) |
| Average time spent on exercise per day (h)* | 0.6 (0.6) |
| Diabetes-related characteristics | |
| Time since diagnosed with diabetes (years) | |
| <5 | 128 (28.8%) |
| 5 to <10 | 92 (20.7%) |
| 10 to <20 | 149 (33.6%) |
| ≥20 | 75 (16.9%) |
| Onset age (years) | |
| <60 | 182 (41.3%) |
| 60–64 | 89 (20.2%) |
| 65–69 | 84 (19.0%) |
| 70–74 | 39 (8.8%) |
| ≥75 | 47 (10.7%) |
| Type of treatment | |
| Dietary control only | 44 (9.9%) |
| OHA | 363 (81.2%) |
| Insulin therapy | 5 (1.1%) |
| OHA and insulin therapy | 35 (7.8%) |
| Presence of diabetes complications | |
| No/unknown | 395 (88.8%) |
| Yes | 50 (11.2%) |
| Participated in diabetes education | |
| No | 159 (35.8%) |
| Yes | 285 (64.2%) |
| Physiological data | |
| Bodyweight (kg)* | 60.7 (10.8) |
| Body height (cm)* | 157.2 (8.4) |
| Body mass index (kg/m2)* | 24.4 (3.9) |
| Systolic blood pressure (mmHg)* | 137.3 (16.6) |
| Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)* | 73.4 (10.8) |
| Urine protein (g/L)† | 0.11 (0.07–0.44) |
| Urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (mmol/L)† | 1.70 (0.80–3.80) |
| Triglycerides (mmol/L)† | 1.31 (0.94–1.82) |
| Total cholesterol (mmol/L)* | 4.72 (0.87) |
| LDL cholesterol (mmol/L)* | 2.87 (0.75) |
| HDL cholesterol (mmol/L)* | 1.22 (0.53) |
| HbA1c (%)* | 7.16 (1.06) |
| Comorbidity | |
| Hypertension | 362 (80.1%) |
| Cardiovascular disease | 22 (4.9%) |
| Cerebrovascular disease | 29 (6.4%) |
| Chronic lung disease | 5 (1.1%) |
| Dementia | 5 (1.1%) |
| Parkinsonism | 3 (0.7%) |
| Arthritis | 117 (25.9%) |
| Eyesight impairment | 130 (28.8%) |
| Hearing impairment | 35 (7.7%) |
| Hyperlipidemia | 74 (16.5%) |
| Prostate disease | 11 (2.5%) |
| Cancer | 6 (1.3%) |
| Others | 112 (24.8%) |
| Total number of comorbidities | |
| 0 | 42 (9.3%) |
| 1 | 159 (35.2%) |
| 2 | 146 (32.3%) |
| ≥3 | 105 (23.2%) |
| Somatic symptoms | |
| Loss of appetite | 67 (14.8%) |
| Fatigue | 186 (41.2%) |
| Chest pain | 70 (15.5%) |
| Breathing difficulty | 54 (11.9%) |
| Stomachache | 71 (15.7%) |
| Headache | 81 (17.9%) |
| Dizziness | 105 (23.3%) |
| Joint swelling and stiffness | 144 (31.9%) |
| Constipation | 121 (26.8%) |
| Insomnia | 188 (41.7%) |
| Others | 4 (0.9%) |
| Total number of the above somatic symptoms | |
| 0 | 90 (19.9%) |
| 1 | 113 (25.0%) |
| 2 | 73 (16.2%) |
| 3 | 61 (13.5%) |
| 4 | 37 (8.2%) |
| ≥5 | 78 (17.3%) |
| Self-rated measures | |
| Self-rated severity of chronic pain (range 0–10)* | 2.4 (2.8) |
| Self-rated severity of fatigue (range 0–10)* | 2.9 (2.6) |
| Self-rated general health status (range 0–10)* | 4.3 (2.0) |
| OMFAQ (Chinese version)‡ | |
| Physical self-maintenance score* | 13.6 (1.1) |
| Instrumental activities of daily living score* | 13.5 (1.7) |
| SF-36 (Chinese version)‡ | |
| Physical functioning* | 77.9 (21.0) |
| Role physical* | 68.6 (42.6) |
| Bodily pain* | 75.0 (27.3) |
| General health* | 50.9 (18.1) |
| Vitality* | 67.4 (17.6) |
| Social functioning* | 86.3 (20.4) |
| Role emotional* | 87.4 (32.3) |
| Mental health* | 79.0 (14.8) |
| RMHI (Chinese version)‡ | |
| Distress scale | |
| Anxiety* | 17.4 (6.5) |
| Depression* | 7.9 (3.6) |
| Loss of behavioral/emotional control* | 15.8 (4.7) |
| Total distress score | 41.1 (13.5) |
| Wellbeing scale | |
| Positive affect* | 44.3 (9.1) |
| Emotional tie* | 13.8 (2.7) |
| Total well-being score* | 58.0 (11.1) |
| MOS-SSS (Chinese version)‡ | |
| Tangible* | 68.7 (26.1) |
| Affectionate* | 66.5 (21.4) |
| Positive social interaction* | 61.2 (22.4) |
| Emotional–informational* | 58.9 (23.4) |
| Total score* | 63.8 (20.5) |
HbA1c, glycosylated hemoglobin; HDL, high-density lipoprotein; IRQ, interquartile range; LDL, low-density lipoprotein; MOS-SSS, Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey; OHA, oral hypoglycemic agents; OMFAQ, Older American Resources and Services Multidimensional Functional Assessment Questionnaire; RMHI, Rand Mental Health Inventory; SF-36; Short Form 36 Health Survey. n = 452. Data marked
*
are presented as mean (standard deviation [SD]) and
†
are presented as median (inter-quartile range [IQR]), all others are presented as frequency (percentage).
‡
All the scales were scored so that a high score indicates a better underlying trait being measured except for the distress scales of the Rand Mental Health Inventory, where a higher score corresponds to greater extent of distress.