Abstract
Objective: Elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus are highly vulnerable due to serious complications. Thus far, there is little research on the relationship between social support and quality of life, which warrants further exploration of the internal mechanism. This study assessed quality of life and its interfering factors in this patient population.Methods: In total, 571 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus over 60 years old were recruited from two community clinics in Heilongjiang province, China. We collected data on health status, quality of life, self-management behavior, fasting plasma glucose (FPG) level, and social support. Structural equation modeling and the bootstrap method were used to analyze the data. Results: The average quality of life score was -29.25 ± 24.41. Poorly scored domains of quality of life were “Psychological feeling” (-8.67), “Activity” (-6.36), and “Emotion” (-6.12). Of the 571 patients, 65.32% had normal FPG, 9.8% had high-risk FPG, 15.94% had good self-management behavior, and 22.07% had poor social support. Significant correlations among social support, self-management behavior, FPG level, and quality of life were noted. A multiple mediator model revealed that social support influenced quality of life in three ways: (i) directly (c´ = 0.6549); (ii) indirectly through self-management behavior (a1*b1 = 0.2596); and (iii) indirectly through FPG control (a2*b2 = 0.2825). Self-management behavior influenced quality of life directly and indirectly through FPG control. Conclusion: Improving self-management behavior and monitoring hypoglycemia should become priority targets for future intervention. Scheduled social support to self-management projects should be put into the standardized management procedure. Physicians should provide substantial and individualized support to elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus regarding medication, blood glucose monitoring, and physical exercise.