Abstract
Objective: To examine the overall Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in diabetes mellitus patients and to evaluate the impact of quality of life on patient's physical, psychosocial health and work domains.
Methodology: This observational cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2016 to May 2017 at Almajmaah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The data were collected using simple random sampling method. We used Arabic version of the Short-Form 36-item survey (SF-36). The physical score, psychosocial score, work score and overall quality of life (QoL) were calculated.
Result: The study included 179 patients. There were 55% males 45.3% female. We found that 38.5% patients had moderate and 5.6% a poor overall quality of life. In Physical functioning, 28.5% were had moderate, and 4.5% poor QoL. In Psychological functioning, 38% patients had moderate, and 8.4% poor QoL. In work functioning, 24.6% patients had moderate, and 16.2% poor QoL. Higher QoL scores were observed in social domains. Limitation of activities significantly differed in males and female diabetics, showing that males had a significantly higher limitation of activities as compared to female (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Our results showed a moderate overall QoL among diabetic patients. There is a need for health caregivers to provide individualized self-care management plan for every patient to improve HRQoL. Self-care and HRQoL are interconnected and help in achieving glycemic targets that lead to decreased cardiovascular risks.