An increased prevalence of sexual disorders has been reported in patients with type 2 diabetes. The aim of this study is the assessment of the influence of the psychical condition, the concentration of glycated hemoglobin, the duration of diabetes, the body mass index, the age, and the subjective acceptance of the illness on sexual disorders occurring in women and men with type 2 diabetes. The study enrolled 215 patients (114 women and 101 men) with type 2 diabetes and 183 controls. Sexuality was determined in all of the studied subjects using: the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) in women and the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) in men. The occurrence of depression symptoms was determined using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), whereas the acceptance of the illness in diabetic patients using the Acceptance of Illness Scale (AIS). A sexual dysfunction was found in 68% of the studied diabetic women and 17% of controls. The point values of all the examined FSFI domains were significantly lower in women with diabetes than in controls (p < 0.001). Erectile disorders occurred in 82% of the studied men with diabetes and in 41% of the controls (p < 0.001). The point values of all the domains of FSFI and IIEF demonstrated a significantly negative correlation with the total BDI score, which was higher in patients with diabetes than in patients without diabetes, and a positive correlation with the total AIS score (p < 0.001). The occurrence of sexual dysfunction in patients with diabetes correlated with the age and the duration of diabetes. We conclude that sexual disorders in patients with type 2 diabetes demonstrate the correlation with the occurrence of depression and the acceptance of their illness. Sexual disorders in diabetic patients occur more frequently in older patients and in those with a longer duration of diabetes.

Background: Sexual disorders occurring in women and men with type 1 diabetes have not been sufficiently investigated and described until now. This study attempts to evaluate sexuality in women and men. Methods: Altogether, the study comprised 115 patients with type 1 diabetes and 105 healthy people constituting the control group. All the studied persons underwent survey studies determining sexuality using the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI-19) in women and the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-15) in men, and the occurrence of depression using the Beck Depression Inventory. The acceptance of illness among patients with diabetes was examined using the Acceptance of Illness Scale questionnaire. Results: In 35% of the examined women with diabetes, the study demonstrated sexual dysfunction as determined by total FSFI. The point values of all the investigated FSFI domains were significantly lower in women with diabetes than in healthy ones (p < 0.001). Erectile dysfunction occurred in 50% of the studied men with diabetes and in 23% of the control group of men (p = 0.0017). Conclusions: Type 1 diabetes leads to sexual disorders which occur in 1/3 of women and in 1/2 of men. Sexual disorders in patients with diabetes more frequently occur in men, persons with coexisting complications of diabetes, and in those with a concentration of glycated hemoglobin higher than 6.5%.

Introduction. Quality of Life (QoL) of Polish women and men with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) was analyzed, taking into consideration acceptance of the illness, the occurrence of depression, complications of diabetes, concentration of glycated haemoglobin, and demographic factors. Materials and method. The study was conducted among 115 patients with T1DM and 215 patients with T2DM aged 18-60. The patients were divided into women and men. The tool applied for studying QoL was the Polish language version of the Audit of diabetes-dependent QoL questionnaire(ADDQoL) comprising 2 questions related to the general QoL and 19 domains related to aspects of life. Each domain included 2 components: Impact and Importance, and their product determined the value of the weighted impact score. The Acceptance of Illness Scale, Beck Depression Inventory and studied demographic and clinical parameters were also applied. Results. Patients with both types of diabetes demonstrated a negative influence of the disease in all domains of ADDQoL. Values of the average weighted impact of ADDQoL showed significant associations with diabetic complications in T1DM and gender and depressive symptoms in T2DM. Diabetes negatively affects the QoL of diabetic patients in Poland, especially regarding freedom to eat and to drink and sex life in both genders in T1DM, and freedom to eat and drink, and feelings about the future in both genders, and working life and sex life in T2DM men. Conclusions. Risk factors for worse QoL are: the occurrence of diabetes complications in T1DM patients and male gender and depression in T2DM patients.

BackgroundThe aim of the present paper was the assessment of the psychometric properties of the Polish language version of the Audit of Diabetes-Dependent Quality of Life (ADDQoL) questionnaire applied in Poland among patients with type 1 (T1DM) or type 2 diabetes (T2DM).MethodsThe studies were carried out among 330 patients with diabetes including 115 with T1DM and 215 with T2DM. In all the patients the level of the quality of life was investigated using the Polish language version of the ADDQoL and the psychometric properties were determined taking into consideration internal consistency, the factor loading and intraclass correlations.ResultsIt was demonstrated that the values of internal consistency determining the reliability of the Polish language version of the ADDQoL for the overall Cronbach’s alfa coefficient were 0.92 in the studied patients with T1DM and 0.93 in the studied patients with T2DM and the values of the loading factor were respectively 0.39–0.79 and 0.35–0.81. In the study of the correlation between the components of the ADDQoL the correlation coefficients proved to be highly statistically significant: in patients with T1DM r = 0.46–0.74 and in patients with T2DM – r = 0.42–0.80.ConclusionThe Polish language version of the ADDQoL is a reliable tool useful for the assessment of the level of the quality of life of adult patients with T1DM or T2DM in Poland and is recommended to be used among Polish-speaking patients with diabetes.

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) belongs to the commonly-occurring pathologies associated with elderly age. A simple tool for defining the severity of PAD is the ankle-brachial index (ABI). The purpose of this research was to determine independent factors of changes of ABI in elderly patients with occlusive PAD disease (PAOD) with and without diabetes. The research was carried out on 49 elderly patients with PAOD, including 29 patients with type 2 diabetes, and 20 patients without diabetes. The concentration of interleukin-6 (IL-6), E-selectin, fibrinogen, and C-reactive protein (CRP) in the blood serum was marked. In all patients, the independent factors of changes of ABI were determined with the use of the multiple logistic regression analysis. Our results show that in the group of patients with PAOD suffering from diabetes, it was demonstrated that the ABI was related to age, the duration of the symptoms of PAD, body mass index (BMI), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, fibrinogen, and sex (determination coefficient R2 = 0.699). In patients with PAOD without diabetes, the ABI was related to age, the duration of the symptoms of PAD, the levels of CRP, E-selectin, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and the glomerular filtration rate(determination coefficient R2 = 0.844). We conclude that in elderly patients with PAOD with and without diabetes, the participation of independent factors related to the ABI is diversified; in patients with diabetes, the concentration of IL-6 and fibrinogen is lower, and the concentration of E-selectin is higher than in patients without diabetes.