Comment

Glucose lowering and diabetes prevention: are they the same?

The present study focuses on studying the validity and reliability of the Greek edition of DQOL-BCI. DQOL-BCI includes 15 questions-elements that are evaluated on a 5-grade scale like Likert and two general form-shapes.

The translation process was conducted in conformity with the guidelines of EuroQol group. A non-random sample of 65 people-patients diagnosed with diabetes I and II was selected. The questionnaire that was used to collect the data was the translated version of DQOL-BCI, and included the demographic characteristics of the interviewees. The content validity of DQOL-BCI was re-examined from a team of five experts (expert panel) for qualitative and quantitative performance. The completion of the questionnaire was done via a personal interview.

The sample consisted of 58 people (35 men and 23 women, 59.9 ± 10.9 years). The translation of the questionnaire was found appropriate in accordance to the peculiarities of the Greek language and culture. The largest deviation of values is observed in QOL1 (1.71) in comparison to QOL6 (2.98). The difference between the standard deviations is close to 0.6. The statistics results of the tests showed satisfactory content validity and high construct validity, while the high values for Cronbach alpha index (0.95) reveal high reliability and internal consistency.

The Greek version of DQOL-BCI has acceptable psychometric properties and appears to demonstrate high internal reliability and satisfactory construct validity, which allows its use as an important tool in evaluating the quality of life of diabetic patients in relation to their health.

Much of the burden of diabetes is due to the development of vascular complications, including cardiovascular diseases, retinopathy and nephropathy. Improvements in patient management to promote tight control of glycaemia have helped to reduce the prevalence of microvascular complications, but cardiovascular diseases continue to be the leading cause of death in patients with type 2 diabetes. Globally, the number of people with diabetes is predicted to almost double over the next 30 years, with much of this increase occurring in developing countries. The growing prevalence of obesity is the major factor driving the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes, and the increase in obesity in adolescents is of particular concern. Consequently, the overall number of people with the vascular complications of diabetes is also predicted to increase. Prevention of diabetes is the best strategy for reducing the risk of complications, and screening of high-risk individuals is already being promoted in some countries. Lifestyle changes, focusing on diet, exercise and weight loss are effective in preventing diabetes in such people. However, more information is required about the long-term sustainability of these changes, and programmes also need to be adapted to meet the needs of developing countries.