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

INTRODUCTION: The 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. METHODS: A 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. RESULTS: The 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. CONCLUSIONS: The 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.