The Study
Health-related quality of life in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus starting with new glucose lowering drugs: An inception cohort study.
This study watched what happened to people with diabetes when they started new medicines, but didn't randomly assign who got which medicine. So we can say that people who took certain drugs tended to feel a little better, but we can't be sure the medicine caused it — maybe they were healthier to begin with, or their doctors chose them for a reason.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
This study looked at whether starting new diabetes medicines helped people with type 2 diabetes feel better about their health over 6 months.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 560 / 100
Quality score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1The improvements were very small — less than the smallest change most people notice — but they suggest that switching diabetes meds doesn’t hurt how people feel and might help a little, especially for those with more health problems.
- 2On average, people felt a tiny bit better: their health score went up by 0.014 on a 0-1 scale and by 3.45 points on a 0-100 scale.
- 3Those who started SGLT2 drugs felt better than those who started DPP-4 drugs.
- 4People who were sicker or heavier at the start felt the most improvement.
- 5Men were less likely to feel better than women.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Primary care diabetes
Year
2019
Authors
Carla Torre, J. Guerreiro, P. Longo, J. Raposo, H. Leufkens, A. Martins
Related Content
Claims (6)
Among adults with type 2 diabetes who start new glucose-lowering drugs, men are 37% less likely than women to experience a meaningful improvement in their health-related quality of life after 26 weeks.
It is not known whether GLP-1 drugs improve, worsen, or have no effect on quality of life in humans.
Adults with type 2 diabetes who also have other long-term health conditions or obesity are more likely to report better quality of life after starting a new diabetes medication than those without these conditions.
Among adults with type 2 diabetes, those taking SGLT2 inhibitors reported a slightly higher improvement in their overall health status on a standard scale after 26 weeks than those taking DPP-4 inhibitors.
In adults with type 2 diabetes who started new glucose-lowering medications, health-related quality of life improved slightly over 26 weeks, measured by a small increase in EQ-5D and VAS scores, with greater improvement seen in those who had poorer health at the start.
In adults with type 2 diabetes, SGLT2 inhibitors are associated with a small but measurable increase in health-related quality of life scores over 26 weeks compared to DPP-4 inhibitors, even when both drug classes produce similar blood sugar control.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.