Prevalence of Diabetes Distress among People with Type 2 Diabetes at Primary Health Care in Qatar: A cross-sectional Study

Background: Overwhelming demands of living with diabetes may lead to diabetes distress. It is linked to poor glycemic control which may result in high morbidity, mortality and increased health care costs. Our aim is to determine the prevalence of diabetes distress among people with type 2 diabetes and the associated factors. Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional study with a sample size of 350 was conducted on type 2 diabetes people aged 30 - 65 years at West Bay Health Centre in Qatar. We used non-probability convenience sampling technique and written consent was secured from participants who met inclusion and exclusion criteria. Interviews were performed to fill out the diabetes distress scale DDS-17 which involves 4 subscales; emotional burden, physician distress, regimen distress and interpersonal distress. Mean item score of 2.0 - 2.9 was considered as moderate distress and >= 3.0 was considered as high distress. Approval notice was obtained from Research Committee. We used SPSS version 23 for data analysis. Results: Overall prevalence of diabetes distress was 40.3% and expected to range between 35.2% and 45.5% with 95% confidence. Participants with high distress constituted 15.1%. For subscales; regimen distress had the highest prevalence (46.3%), followed by emotional burden (43.4%), interpersonal distress (38.6%), and physician distress (35.1%). A multivariate discriminant model to predict study participants with diabetes distress showed association in the following order of importance; Qataris/Arabs nationality, female gender, poor control of diabetes, receiving injections with treatment, obesity grade 2 and 3, age group >= 45 years, intensive diabetes control and being diagnosed with retinopathy. The discriminant model was statistically significant and able to classify individuals into distressed and non-distressed groups with 62% overall accuracy. Conclusions: This study is the first of its kind in Qatar. The significant high prevalence highlights the importance of regular screening of diabetes distress, especially for those at high risk.