Table 2 Variables utilized for population segmentation analyses (N = 148)

Socio-demographic

66

 Race and/or ethnicity

17

[23, 25, 36,37,38, 40, 44, 45, 79,80,81,82,83,84,85,86,87]

 Patients’ age

16

Young: ≤ 45 years old, Older: > 45 years old

[26, 33, 39, 43, 51, 87,88,89,90,91,92,93,94,95,96,97]

 Gender

12

[41, 56, 67, 72, 79, 92, 94, 97,98,99,100,101]

 Obesity / weight related

7

  - Body mass index / obesity

6

[17, 49, 58, 59, 102, 103]

  - Waist circumference

1

[59]

  - Weight change over time

1

[104]

 Lifestyle factors

6

  - Level / patterns of physical activity

4

[20, 32, 57, 105]

  - Lifestyle patterns

3

Morningness-eveningness, sleep quality, Consumption of food, alcohol and cigarettes [106]

[20, 106, 107]

 Dietary factors / patterns

6

e.g. intake of coffee, high fat dietary pattern score

[57, 108,109,110,111,112]

 Education related

4

  - Level of literacy

2

[48, 107]

  - Level of health literacy

1

[18]

  - Verbal intelligence

1

Groningen Intelligence Test [113]

[113]

 Economic related factors

4

  - Household income

2

[48, 114]

  - Socio-economic status of patients

1

[115]

  - Employment status

1

[107]

 Smoking

4

  - Current smoking status

3

[20, 34, 57]

  - Smoking duration

1

[107]

 Alcohol consumption

1

[57]

 Citizenship (immigrant / non-immigrant)

1

[116]

 Living in Northern vs Southern latitudes

1

[117]

 Marital status

1

[107]

Diabetes related

54

 Hba1c related

14

  - Hba1c level

7

[74, 76, 103, 118,119,120,121]

  - Patterns, trends and trajectories

6

[11, 75, 122,123,124,125]

  - Hba1c variability

2

[125, 126]

 Diabetes related complications

13

  - Presence of albuminuria

4

[26, 54, 68, 127]

  - Presence of complications e.g. cardiometabolic, microvascular diseases

3

[10, 50, 128]

  - Presence of diabetic retinopathy

2

[129, 130]

  - Severity of albuminuria

1

[54]

  - Presence of diabetic nephropathy

1

[130]

  - Severity of diabetic neuropathy

1

[131]

  - Severity of diabetic kidney disease

1

[132]

  - Severity of diabetes related complications

1

[133]

  - Medically attended hypoglycemia

1

[30]

 Diabetes treatment related

7

  - Types of anti-diabetic agents used

5

[10, 26, 69, 134, 135]

  - Dose of anti-diabetic agents

1

[136]

  - Adherence to anti-diabetic agents

1

[31]

 Other laboratory parameters

5

  - Presence / levels of islet cells auto-immune antibodies levels

4

[66, 103, 137, 138]

  - Glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypepide (GIP) and glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1)

1

[70]

 Age at T2DM diagnosis

5

[60, 78, 93, 103, 139]

 Diabetes related risk factors

5

  - Number of risk factors

3

Clinical risk groups

[52, 140, 141]

  - Total metabolic score

2

[61, 142]

 Fasting plasma glucose

3

  - Variability of fasting plasma glucose levels

3

[55, 73, 143]

  - Mean fasting plasma glucose levels

2

[73, 143]

 Duration of T2DM

4

[103, 120, 144, 145]

 Subtypes of T2DM

1

Ketosis prone T2DM or previously diagnosed T2DM with diabetic ketoacidosis [146]

[146]

 Status of T2DM at cancer diagnosis

1

Insulin resistant /insulin sensitive [24]

[24]

 Characteristics of T2DM

1

Ketosis

[134]

 Severity of diabetes distress

1

17-item Diabetes Distress Scale scores [147]

[147]

 Presence of metabolic disorder

1

[10]

 Reasons for not participating in diabetes related progam

1

[148]

Non-diabetes medical related factors

18

 Chronic kidney disease

6

  - Severity of chronic kidney disease

4

[26, 65, 68, 132]

  - Presence of chronic kidney disease

2

[10, 56]

 Hypertension related

5

  - Blood pressure control, variability

2

[149, 150]

  - Presence of hypertension

1

[102]

  - Presence of resistance hypertension

1

[71]

  - Number of anti-hypertensive agents

1

[71]

 Cardiovascular related

3

  - Number of cardiovascular risk factors

1

[50]

  - Presence of atherosclerosis

1

[51]

  - Echocardiographic variables

1

[102]

 Physical function status related

2

  - Physical functional status

1

[151]

  - Frailty

1

[152]

 Laboratory related parameters

2

  - Blood biochemistries / full blood count

1

[26]

  - Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels

1

[63]

 Comorbidities of patients (overall)

1

[128]

 Overall medication usage

1

[26]

 Severity of pain

1

[131]

 Microaneurysm turnover and for the central retinal thickness

1

[153]

Psychiatric or psychological related factors

16

 Depression or anxiety related

9

  - Presence and severity of depression and anxiety symptoms

3

[42, 154, 155]

  - Severity of depression

3

[21, 35, 42]

  - Presence of depression

2

[27, 156]

  - Patterns of depression

1

Persistant depressive symptoms, new depressive symptoms, remitted depressive symptoms, no or few depressive symptoms [29]

[29]

  - Severity of anxiety symptoms

1

[46]

 Other psychiatric disorders / symptoms related factors

5

  - Presence of sleep disturbance, fatigue

2

[42, 131]

  - Number of psychiatric conditions

1

[22]

  - Severity of psychiatric symptoms

1

Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale score

[35]

  - Cognitive status

1

[62]

 Health related quality of life

3

[118, 131, 157]

 Patient perceptions related factors

2

  - Illness perception

1

[158]

  - Perceived self-efficacy

1

[35]

  - Perceived social support

1

[35]

 Personality traits differences

1

[159]

Healthcare systems related

6

 Type of healthcare utilization

2

[160, 161]

 Type or specialty of care provider

2

[64, 77]

 Hospital admission

1

[53]

 Frequency of emergency department presentation

1

[162]