Relationship Among Health-Related Quality of Life and Autosomal Ancestry, Clinical and Socioeconomic Factors In Type 1 Diabetes in an Admixed Brazilian Population.

BACKGROUND: Type 1 diabetes is a chronic disease of an autoimmune character that affects the quality of life of patients in different degrees. Race and socioeconomic differences directly affect glycemic control. This study aimed to evaluate the Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) patients an admixed Brazilian population, and to identify the variables influencing this condition.METHODS: This research is a cross-sectional study conducted at the University Hospital-Federal University of Maranhão Endocrinology Service with 152 T1D patients between 2017 and 2018. HRQoL information was obtained from two self-completed questionnaires: Short Form-6 dimensions and EuroQol-5 dimensions with visual analog scale. For inference of autosomal ancestry, a panel of 46 autosomal informational insertion/deletion ancestry markers (AIM–Indels) was used. Demographic information, socioeconomic data, presence of chronic complications, glycemic control level, and type of treatment were collected.RESULTS: In the study, the patients who had good HRQoL were characterized as follows: male, under 18 years old, single, with average of 11 years of schooling, had health insurance, with less than 5 years of diagnosis, practiced physical activity, experienced no hypoglycemia in the last 30 days, reported no chronic complications (retinopathy and nephropathy), participant in several group educational activities, used analogous insulin, monitored blood glucose, showed maximum treatment adherence, and came from the secondary service. Autosomal ancestry and self-reported color/race did not show influence on HRQoL indexes.CONCLUSION: Our study is the first to measure the HRQoL, autosomal ancestry and recognize the impact of T1D on patients' lives in the State of Maranhão, Northeast of Brazil. The results validate the need to provide T1D patients with continuous training on self-management and self-monitoring, seeking better results in metabolic control and consequently, in the prevention of acute and chronic complications to generate positive impacts on the quality of life of this population. In addition, reinforcing physical activity at each appointment should be part of the health team’s routine. We understand that ethnicity in a highly mixed population like ours did not influence the quality of life of these patients.