Assessment of Quality of Life Among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-Sectional Study in Rural Area of Jammu District, J&K

Background: Quality of life (QOL) is now becoming an important measure of burden of diseases as it assesses emotional, social and psychological domain besides the physical wellbeing. Aim: The present study aimed to asses QOL among diabetic patients in a rural setting. Material and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted among diabetic patients attending Medicine OPD in Community Health Centre in rural area. All the eligible diabetic patients were included in the study using consecutive sampling technique and were assessed using WHO-BREF Questionnaire for the QOL. Results: A total of 308 respondents constituted the study population. The mean age of the participants was 52.80 ± 10.97 years. Among various domains of QOL, mean scores were found to be maximum for environmental domain (54.08± 14.76). Females have lower scores among various QOL domains as compared to their male counterparts. Age was found to be independent predictor for all the domains of QOL. Literacy, monthly family income and duration of the diabetes were all significantly associated with majority of domains of QOL on multivariate analysis (P<0.05). Conclusion: Advancing age and duration of diabetes were found to be among important predictors of QOL. Influencing factors of QOL in these patients need better planning to improve physical and psychosocial burden of disease and attainment of better QOL.