Background Chronic stress is a recognized risk factor for poor glycemic control in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Music has shown promise as a low-cost intervention for stress reduction, but evidence in T2DM remains limited. Methods We conducted an open-label, parallel-arm randomized controlled trial among adults with T2DM attending the National Hospital of Sri Lanka, Colombo. Participants were randomized to customized music medicine with usual care (n=172) or usual care alone (n=177) and followed for 3 and 6 months. Primary outcomes were HbA1c, blood pressure, pulse rate, and perceived stress measured by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10). The primary analysis used a complete-case approach, with intention-to-treat sensitivity analysis using last-observation-carried-forward. Results At 3 months, the treatment group showed a significantly greater reduction in HbA1c (-0.87, 95% CI -1.46 to -0.28) and perceived stress (-3.23, 95% CI -5.26 to -1.20) than the control group. At 6 months, although HbA1c remained numerically lower in the treatment group, the between-group difference in the primary complete-case analysis was not statistically significant (-0.61, 95% CI -1.44 to 0.22). Age-stratified exploratory analyses suggested greater HbA1c reduction in the <60-year subgroup at 3 months, but these findings should be interpreted cautiously because no multiplicity adjustment was applied. No significant between-group differences were observed for systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and pulse rate. Conclusion Customized music medicine may be a useful complementary intervention for reducing perceived stress and improving short-term glycemic control in adults with T2DM.
AIMS:Despite the rising type 2 diabetes (T2D) burden in rapidly aging populations, the contributions of age, period, and cohort effects remain unclear. We aimed to quantify the contributions of age-period-cohort modeling to T2D-related disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in rapidly aging East Asian societies to interpret trends in T2D burden and inform public health efforts. METHODS:Age- and sex-specific DALYs and population data for Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan (1994-2023) were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023. Adults aged 20-79 years were grouped into five-year intervals, and age-period-cohort (APC) models were fitted to separate age, period, and cohort effects. RESULTS:T2D-related DALY rates declined significantly across all three societies, with South Korea showing the steepest decline and Japan the smallest. Period effects indicated consistent declines in South Korea and gradual reductions in Taiwan and Japan since 2009. Cohort patterns diverged: steady gains in South Korea, modest improvements in Japan among those born after 1960, and a plateau in Taiwan, where DALY rates showed no improvement among adults younger than 40 years. CONCLUSIONS:Declines in South Korea and Taiwan occurred alongside universal health coverage, which may have strengthened secondary prevention. Taiwan's stalled cohort improvements before age 40 suggest that gaps in primary prevention, alongside rising obesity prevalence and other lifestyle factors, may have constrained gains among younger generations. Sustained T2D burden reduction in aging societies will likely require effective secondary prevention and population-level primary prevention.
