Quality of life in clinic attendees of the diabetic clinic national hospital of Sri Lanka

Abstract

The present study was carried out to describe the physical health, psychological health , social relationship and environment aspects of QoL of diabetic patients in relation to healthy individuals and to describe selected socio-demographic and disease related factors associated with QoL among study population. A cross sectional descriptive study was carried out among clinic attendees in the diabetic clinic of National Hospital of Sri Lanka. Four hundred and twenty two clinic attendance were included to the study by systematic sampling. An interviewer administered questionnaire collected socio-demographic characteristics and diabetes related factors and assessment of QoL was done using the already validated WHOQOL BREF Sinhala version. Data was analyzed using SPSS 16.0 package and appropriate statistical tests were applied. The study revealed that people with DM have significant poor QoL compared to healthy individuals. When considering the selected socio-demographic factors, study population of less educated ( grade 5 or less) or not attended to school , and with less income ( less than Rs. 10, 000.00 or no income) had significantly poor QoL, i all four aspects. The prevention of complications is one of the most important issues regarding the health aspects as it is strongly associated with QoL of diabetes mellitus patients. Thus multidisciplinary approach is needed for the management of such patients. It is necessary to educate all the clinic attendees regarding importance of good drug compliance, healthy dietary habits and adequate physical activities to minimize introduction of insulin, which may in turn improve the QoL of these patients