Health Related Quality of Life of the Diabetic Patients Attending a Tertiary Care Hospital in Central Province of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is understood as the individual perception of health in the context of the culture and value system in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, and concerns. The main objective of this study was to measure the HRQoL of the diabetic patients attending a National Hospital in Sri Lanka. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 395 diabetic patients attended the National hospital- Kandy. RAND SF-36 questionnaire was used, which measures HRQoL by giving scores for 8 subscales. In both descriptive and inferential data analysis, ≤0.05 p value was considered as the level of significance. Out of 395 participants, 62.8% were females and 37.2% were males, with a mean age of 56.01±12.77. The majority of participants (male=79.2%, female=66.1%) reported their health status had worsened or had no change over one year. The total mean score for the SF-36 was 67.07±17.23. Emotional well-being had the highest mean score (76.56±16.71) and vitality had the lowest mean score (54.5±19.71) among the subscales. Education level (p<0.001), duration of the disease (p=0.004) and monthly income of the patients (p<0.001) were significantly associated with the total mean score of SF-36. Age (r=-0.333, p<0.001) and duration of the disease (r=-0.170, p=0.001) were negatively correlated, and education level (r=0.2, p<0.001) and monthly income (r=0.204, p<0.001) were positively correlated with HRQoL. The health related quality of life of the participants is at a good level according to the mean scores for the overall tool and the importance of giving attention to holistic management of diabetes is emphasized.