Exploring the Quality of Life of Elderly Population with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Mayo Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: The number of people suffering from Type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is continuously rising. Chronic diseases, especially for the elderly population, have an immense impact on quality of life (QoL), which serves as a crucial indicator of overall health and well-being. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the QoL of elderly T2DM patients and identify the associations between demographic factors and QoL domains. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from March 2024 to July 2024 at Mayo Hospital Lahore, involving 94 Out door T2DM patients aged 60 years and above. Using Urdu version of demographic and WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire, data collection involved self-administration or one-on-one interviews. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 25 by conducting t-test, ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey test, and correlation coefficient. Results: The findings showed a mixed picture of QoL. While 38% of elderly diabetic patients expressed satisfaction with their health and 40% reported a good QoL, an almost equal number expressed dissatisfaction (39%), with 29% of people denoting their life quality as poor. Significant positive correlations (p-values <0.001) existed among all QoL domains. Physical (47.32) and environmental (48.38) domains displayed lower average scores compared to psychological (53.24) and social (53.37) domains. Considerable associations were found between QoL domains and demographic factors.Older age, lower income, unemployment, loss of spouse, and duration of diabetes (>10 years)negatively impacted QoL. Hypertension and CVDs had no considerable impact on overall life quality of elderly T2DM patients. Conclusions: Chronic conditions like DM affect the QoL of elderly patients but the QoL varies across domains and individuals due to factors like age and duration of disease. Lower mean scores of environmental and physical domains with significant correlations among demographic influences and domains were noted.