Decomposition of EQ5D quality of life scores
The frequency of problems varied between the EQ5D dimensions, where problems with mobility and pain were frequent and problems with self-care were less frequent.
Women always reported limitations more often than men (Table 3). Although older age was usually associated with a greater frequency of problems, younger patients reported problems with anxiety/ depression more often than older patients. In most cases, patients without complications were less likely to report problems than other patients, with the exception of anxiety/depression, which was reported slightly less frequently by patients with macrovascular complications than by patients without complications. Patients with both microvascular and macrovascular complications reported problems more often than other patients.
Ordinal logistic regression analysis was used to create five models, one for each dimension, to determine which patient characteristics were associated with problems in these dimensions (Table 4). Although the composition varied somewhat between models, several patient characteristics appeared in at least two of the five models. Hyperlipidemia was selected in three of the models. Using the classification index as an indicator of the discriminative ability of the model, the models for mobility and self-care performed better than the other models.