Health-related quality of life in pregnant women with type 1 diabetes and associations with maternal and neonatal complications.

PURPOSE

Preexisting type 1 diabetes is a stressful situation for women in pregnancy. We aimed to evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQoL) during pregnancy in women with type 1 diabetes and examine the association between HRQoL and pregnancy outcomes.

METHODS

This multicenter prospective cohort study involved 115 pregnant women with type 1 diabetes from 11 participating centers in China. HRQoL was investigated in three trimesters using European Quality-of-life 5-Dimension 5-Level questionnaire (EQ-5D-5 L). Chinese time trade-off value method was used to calculate the EQ-5D-5 L score. Multivariable logistic regression model was used to evaluate the effect of HRQoL on maternal and neonatal outcomes. Receiver operating characteristic curves and distribution-based methods were employed to estimate minimally important differences of clinically important decline in HRQoL.

RESULTS

50.43% of the studied women with type 1 diabetes reported impaired HRQoL in pregnancy. Estimated maternal HRQoL significantly decreased from early to mid-pregnancy (mean EQ-5D-5 L score 0.97 in the first trimester and 0.91 in the second trimester) and improved slightly in late pregnancy (mean EQ-5D-5 L score 0.95). Multivariable regression model showed that women who experienced impaired HRQoL in pregnancy had higher risk of hypertensive disorder, preterm birth, and composite pregnancy outcome. The estimated minimally important difference for composite pregnancy outcome was -0.045 to -0.043.

CONCLUSIONS

Experiencing impaired HRQoL during pregnancy was associated with a higher risk of hypertensive disorder and preterm birth in women with type 1 diabetes. The estimated minimally important difference of EQ-5D-5 L might serve as a clinically important tool in prenatal care.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

No.ChiCTR1900025955.