Shoulder Pain and Functional Disability in Type 1 Diabetic Patients: A Cross-sectional Survey

Objective: To assess the prevalence of shoulder pain and functional disability (SPFD) in Type-1 diabetic patients, and to explore its association with duration of the disease, age and gender.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out on previously diagnosed patients with Type-1 diabetes mellitus between April 2019 and March 2020. Data was collected from six hospitals including three tertiary care hospitals of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Three hundred and twenty-eight patients were recruited through convenience sampling. Shoulder Pain and Disability Index was used to determine SPFD among participants. Point-biserial and Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to find out the correlation between the variables. Independent t-test was used to determine the difference in the mean scores between the variables.

Results: The prevalence of SPFD was found 85.7%. A significant correlation was found of the SPFD with age (r = 0.332, p < 0.001), duration of the diabetes mellitus (r = 0.154, p = 0.005) and gender (r = 0.171, p = 0.002). A significant difference was found in SPFD mean scores between female and male patients (female patients = 43.42±22.80, male patients = 35.31±22.91, p = 0.002).

Conclusion: SPFD seems prevalent among Type-1 diabetic patients. Increasing age, long history of diabetes mellitus and female gender appear the associated risk factors for the shoulder pain and disability.