Sociodemographic characteristics associated with self-care and quality of life among community-dwelling older adults with type 2 diabetes

Aims: To assess how well community-dwelling older adults in Singapore were coping with their diabetes, and the sociodemographic characteristics that were associated with their level of coping. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving 257 older adults. Multiple regression was used to assess the associations between various sociodemographic characteristics and coping measures of present quality of life and level of self-care. Results: Older adults mainly sought care in the primary care setting. They were not coping well given their mean scores for diabetes-dependent quality of life and the self-care index were -3.57 and 3.55 respectively. Compared to those with post-secondary education, individuals who had no formal (adjusted B -0.92, p 0.003), primary level (adjusted B -0.76, p < 0.001) and secondary level (adjusted B -0.50, p < 0.02) education reported lower present quality of life. Those with prior lowest skill level occupations were less likely to consume a healthy diet per week than those with prior highest skill level occupations (adjusted B -1.48, p 0.004). Conclusions: There should be provision of diabetes self-care interventions targeting older adults in Singapore especially for those with lower education and work skill levels. As the first line of contacts, pri-mary care providers should advocate for diabetes self-care and develop community-based interventions for these priority groups. (c) 2021 Primary Care Diabetes Europe. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.