November 14th, 2011 by Ryan Luce No Comments
written by Michael O’Leary
For most adults battling the midlife bulge, losing weight boosts their sense of well-being, and it is no less so for people with type 2 diabetes.
A large survey of 14,921 patients who took part in the U.S. Study to Help Improve Early evaluation and management of risk factors Leading to Diabetes (SHIELD) asked adults about changes in weight to evaluate the effect of weight on nine aspects of well-being. These included physical health, family interactions, work performance, interactions with co-workers and friends, social activities, daily activities, self-esteem, emotional health and overall quality of life. (Link to published site)
The SHIELD study is a five-year ongoing survey of people’s behavior in relation to the development of type 2 diabetes. The researchers ask participants to periodically fill out a standardized questionnaire about a variety of health factors in their lives.
MedPage Today reported on the study, which was presented at the World Congress on Insulin Resistance, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Disease meeting last week in Los Angeles.
The researchers led by Dr. Kathleen Fox, of the Strategic Healthcare Solutions, Monkton, Md., looked specifically at the effect of weight change. They found that among the 2,969 patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, 16 percent reported gaining weight and 30 percent reported weight loss during 2008. Those who lost weight were older and weighed less at the start of the survey than those who gained weight.
A significantly greater proportion of those who reported weight loss registered improvements in all nine of the well-being factors compared to those who gained weight. The greatest improvements were seen for physical health, self-esteem and overall quality of life.
Specifically, 44 percent of those who lost weight reported improvement in physical health compared to 3.1 percent of those who gained weight. Similarly 39.4 percent of the weight-loss group reported greater self-esteem compared to 4.9 percent of the weight-gain group, and 34.2 percent of the weight loss group felt they have a better overall quality of life compared to 4.9 percent of those who gained weight.
There are several limitations for this type of study, primarily it relies on people to report whether or not they have diabetes and their own evaluations of whether or not they lost or gained weight. The responses were not checked for accuracy with actual weighings, blood tests, medical records or other objective measures.
Despite these limitations, Fox and colleagues concluded that losing weight may produce a number of quality of life benefits in patients with type 2 diabetes.
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