The Diabetes mellitus Insulin-Glucose Infusion in Acute Myocardial Infarction (DIGAMI) 2 Quality of Life (QoL) sub-study included 465 patients with type 2 diabetes and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) followed for 2 years. Self-rated health was reported by the rating scale (RS), graded 0 = death to 100 = perfect health. Prospective associations between RS and all-cause mortality, cardiovascular (CV) death and cardiovascular events (CVEs = CV death, non-fatal AMI, stroke) were assessed. Median age was 68 years (range 59-74), 68% male. Patients experiencing CVE (n = 132) or death (n = 71) had lower RS compared with patients free from events: 60 (50-79) versus 70 (55-81) (p < 0.001) and 60 (50-75) versus 70 (51-80) (p = 0.008). The RS score predicted CVE [hazard ratio (HR); 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.87; 0.80-0.95] and all-cause mortality (0.86; 0.76-0.97), and corresponding HRs after adjustment were 0.90; 0.83-0.99 and 0.90; 0.79-1.02, respectively. A low self-rated health is of prognostic importance in patients with type 2 diabetes and AMI and may serve as an easily obtainable indicator of high risk for CVEs supplementing traditional risk factors.
Keywords: Self-rated health; gender; quality of life; rating scale; survival; type 2 diabetes.