The impact of a diabetes diagnosis on health and well-being: Findings from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Abstract

Background: Poorer health and well-being are associated with diabetes risk. However, little is known about the trajectory of health and well-being from before to after diabetes diagnosis. We compared depressive symptoms, quality of life, self-rated health, and loneliness at three time points (prediagnosis, diagnosis, 2–4 years post diagnosis) in individuals who developed diabetes and a comparison group. Methods: Health and well-being measures were self-reported by 3474 participants from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Repeated measures analysis of variance and generalized estimating equations were used to investigate differences by group, time, and group-by-time interactions. Results: A total of 473 (13.6%) participants developed diabetes. The diabetes group reported greater depressive symptoms (W2(1) = 20.67, p