Health related quality of life in type 2 diabetic patients with special emphasis on gender and mode of treatment

Pages: 350-353
Vidya Bhate (Research Scholar, University of Pune, Pune)
Shobhana Abhyankar (Department of Psychology, Fergusson College, Pune)

India is perhaps facing the biggest epidemic of non-communicable diseases and has the largest number of diabetic patients. Diabetes seriously affects health related quality of life (HQoL). The present study aimed at studying the relationship of HQoL with gender and mode of treatment in Type 2 diabetic patients. Health related quality of life questionnaire (HQoLQ) and a personal data sheet were administered to a sample of 75 diabetic patients from a private hospital in Pune. Details of mode of treatment (tablet or both tablet and insulin) were availed from the patients. The obtained data were subjected to point bi-serial correlation. There was a significant negative correlation between gender and HQoL (rp, bis = – 0.26, p < 0.01), and treatment mode and HQoL (rp, bis = - 0.340, p < 0.05). The results implied that female diabetic patients had a poor HQoL as compared to male patients, and that the patients who took only tablet had a better HQoL than patients who took insulin and tablet both. Data were further subjected to multiple regression analysis to find out relative contribution of individual factors in predicting HQoL. Gender (β b = - 0.340, p < 0.01)) was a stronger predictor of HQoL; it contributed 12% variance to HQoL. Mode of treatment (β = - 0.225, p < 0.05) contributed 5% variance. The study thus highlights the importance of gender and mode of treatment in predicting HQoL in diabetic patients.