Subjective well-being before and after the onset of diabetes mellitus: results of the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study.

Previous research has documented that people with diabetes mellitus report lower psychological well-being than do people with no reported disease. Very little empirical evidence is available to support the conclusion that the low well-being is a consequence of diabetes per se. In this article, we analysed changes in psychological well-being among people who developed diabetes between 1984-1986 and 1995-1997. On these two occasions, the entire adult population of one county in Norway was invited to health screenings (the Nord-Trøndelag Health Studies, HUNT 1 and HUNT 2). The participants were 77,224 (90.7%) in HUNT 1 and 65,599 (71.0%) in HUNT 2. A total of 46,320 people participated in both studies and were included in the analyses. The participation rate at HUNT 2 was lower among people with diabetes at HUNT 2 than among people without diabetes. The participants responded to questionnaires, including questions on several diseases, as well as self-assessed health and psychological well-being. In this article, the question is raised whether people who developed diabetes in the period between HUNT 1 and HUNT 2 reported lower well-being than people who did not. The analyses show that they did, but the differences were small, except for reported subjective health and vigor. Moreover, we found that people who reported diabetes in HUNT 2 but not in HUNT 1 reported lower well-being and more comorbidity, already in HUNT 1. They also reported a slight decline in well-being in the period, that is, poorer subjectively judged health and life satisfaction, less vigor and cheerfulness, and more use of tranquilizers than before they received the diabetes diagnosis.