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Purpose: Diabetes-related distress (DRD) has negative emotional effects on the patients' quality of life. This is while the condition often goes undiagnosed despite it being common among diabetic patients. This study investigated the prevalence of DRD and its association with diabetes complications among a group of Iranian type 2 diabetic patients (T2DM). Methods: This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 186 T2DM patients referred to a diabetes clinic in a teaching hospital from the beginning of May 2019 to the end of April 2020. Two questionnaires on disease-related information and diabetes distress screening scale (DDS) were filled out for each patient. The latter was divided into four domains, emotional burden (EB), diabetes-related interpersonal distress (ID), physician-related distress (PD), and regimen-related distress (RD). In addition to the frequency of DRD and its association with age, sex, body mass index (BMI), hypertension, hemoglobin A1C, duration of disease, and type of medication regimen (oral, insulin, or mix) along with the history of cardiovascular disease (CVDs), retinopathy, nephropathy, and diabetic foot were assessed. Results: DRD was reported in 47% of the patients. Being female, old age, hypertension, high hemoglobin A1C levels, nephropathy, and retinopathy were significantly associated with DRD (P-value = < 0.001, 0.013, 0.014, 0.007, 0.001, and 0.004, respectively). The history of the diabetic foot had a significant relationship with PD and ID (P-value = 0.007 and < 0.001, respectively). Multivariate regression showed gender and the existence of complications to have a direct effect on the development of DRD. Conclusion: DRD prevalence is relatively high and requires screening to identify and treat high-risk patients. Further studies are needed to study diabetes, its complications and their relation with DRD to help reduce such conditions and improve the patient's quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Type II diabetes is the most common metabolic disorder, the prevalence of which is increasing in Iran. The relationship between metabolic control and preventive behaviors is established. Attitude is an important determinant in preventive behaviors. This study investigated the attitudes of patients with type II diabetes towards preventive behaviors for disease complications. Materials and Methods: This descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional study was performed among 200 patients with type II diabetes referring to diabetes center in Bandar Abbas, Iran. The participants were chosen through convenience sampling. The data was collected through a questionnaire on attitudes towards preventive behaviors for type II diabetes complications. The validity and reliability of this scale were established in a paper by Jahanfar et al. To analyze the data, Pearson correlation coefficient was run in SPSS version 19. Results: In total, 129 patients were female and 71 were male, and the majority of the patients had a positive attitude towards preventive behaviors. Level of education (P=0.04), as well as consumption of fruits and vegetables (P=0.00) were significantly correlated with attitudes towards preventive behaviors. However, no significant relationship was found between duration of disease and attitude (P=0.341). Conclusions: The mentioned relationships emphasize the importance of implementing training programs, providing facilities, and adopting appropriate policies to improve preventive behaviors for diabetes complications in both patients and general population [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]