Health Related Quality of Life in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Iran: A National Survey

Abstract

IntroductionThe aim of this study was to measure health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Iranian people with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus using two different measures and examines which socio-demographic and diabetes-related characteristics are associated with better quality of life based on a nationally distributed sample.MethodsA multi-stage cluster sampling method was used to select 3472 subjects as a part of Iranian surveillance of risk factors of non-communicable disease (ISRFNCD). EuroQol-5 Dimensions questionnaire (EQ-5D) and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) were employed to measure HRQoL. Binary logistic and Tobit regression models were used to investigate factors associated with EQ-5D results.ResultsThe mean age of subjects was 59.4 years (SD = 11.7), 61.3% were female and had 8.08 years (SD = 6.7) known duration of diabetes. The patients reported “some or extreme problems” most frequently in Pain/Discomfort (69.3%) and Anxiety/Depression (56.6%) dimensions of EQ-5D. The mean EQ-5D and VAS score were 0.70 (95% CI 0.69–0.71) and 56.8 (95% CI 56.15–57.5) respectively. Female gender, lower education, unemployment, long duration of diabetes, diabetes-related hospitalization in past years and having nephropathy and lower extremity lesions were associated with higher probabilities of reporting “some or extreme problems” in most dimensions of EQ-5D in binary logistic regression models. The same factors in addition to retinopathy were significantly associated with lower levels of HRQoL in Tobit regression analysis too.ConclusionsThe study findings indicate that patients with diabetes in Iran suffer from relatively poor HRQoL. Therefore much more attention should be paid to main determinants of HRQoL to identify and implement appropriate policies for achieving better management of diabetes and ultimately improving the quality of life of diabetic patients in this region.

Comparison of Blood Transfusion Plus Chelation Therapy and Bone Marrow Transplantation in Patients with ??-Thalassemia: Application of SF-36, EQ-5D, and Visual Analogue Scale Measures

“…10,11,26 In the present study, EQ-5D was used for 2 reasons; using this questionnaire allows for converting utility scores into quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), and the questionnaire is simple and does not need much time to complete. 15 Using EQ-5D index, the results of this study showed that patient with β-thalassemia (both groups) had many "problems" in different dimensions of the scale, ranging from 2.04% to 32.14%, and these problems have the highest rate in P/D and A/D dimensions. The results indicated that there was no significant difference between BMT and BTIC groups in SC, MO, and UA dimensions.…”

“…The second part (EQ VAS) is a graded tool for health status where the respondents select a score from 0 to 100 to represent their level of health, with higher scores indicating better QoL. 15,22,23 Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) is another instrument used for assessing general health of β-thalassemia patients. This is also a general tool for measuring QoL in different contexts.…”

“…13 In addition, due to limited resources in the healthcare systems, the demand for analyzing the costeffectiveness of treatments is increasing. 14,15 One of the most important issues in economic evaluation is measuring and evaluating different aspects of a patient's HRQoL. 15 Since all studies on HRQoL in β-thalassemia patients of Iran have focused on those who use blood transfusion, 3,8,[16][17][18][19][20] we decided to compare HRQoL in patients that use blood transfusion plus iron chelation (BTIC) therapy and those who have had bone marrow transplantation (BMT) using 2 different multiattribute quality of life (QoL) scales.…”

Compare the Quality of Life in Type 2 Diabetic Patients with Healthy Individuals (Application of WHOQOL-BREF)

“…Generally, a negative relationship was observed between diabetes disease and quality of life which can affect physical, mental, and social aspects of individuals [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. A related affecting factors on quality of life among these patients, we can point to complications of type II diabetes and underlying and demographic variables, age, gender, educational status of individuals and their family members regarding medical information, duration of disease, and economical status which have significant relationship with patient's quality of life [12,14,17].…”

Sociodemographic Characteristic and Health Related Quality of Life in Outpatients of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus under JKN

“…Recently, many researcher and clinicians have been recognized quality of life as one of tool to measure outcome therapy [6,7].…”