Impact of visit-to-visit glycated hemoglobin variability on diabetes distress and its subscales.

Aims: This study aimed to investigate the correlations between glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C) variability and diabetes distress (DD) and its subscales in older patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Methods: The cross-sectional study analyzed 175 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, aged ≥60 years, and underwent HbA1C testing at least three times within a 2-year. HbA1C variability was assessed using the coefficient of variation (CV), standard deviation (SD), variability independent of the mean (VIM), and variability score. DD was assessed using a diabetes distress scale (DDS) questionnaire. We analyzed four DDS subscales, including emotional burden (EB), regimen distress (RD), interpersonal distress (ID), and physician distress (PD). Significant DD was defined as a total score ≥ 34.

Results: All four indices of HbA1C variability were positively correlated with DDS (r = 0.19, P = 0.01 in CV; r = 0.19, P = 0.01 in SD; r = 0.19, P = 0.02 in VIM; and r = 0.18, P = 0.02 in variability score). For the DD subscales, only EB showed a significant correlation with HbA1C variability (β = 0.72, SE = 0.35 in CV; β = 0.70, SE = 0.35 in SD; β = 0.66, SE = 0.31 in VIM; and β = 0.77, SE = 0.35 in variability score).

Conclusions: HbA1C variability was independently linked to DD, particularly the EB subscale in older type 2 diabetes patients. This underscores the need for DD screening and intervention in patients with high HbA1C variability, irrespective of their HbA1C levels or depressive symptoms.