TITLE:
Quality of Life among Saudi Diabetics
AUTHORS:
Fahad S. Al-Shehri
KEYWORDS:
Quality of Life, Diabetes Mellitus, Retinopathy, Nephropathy, Neuropathy, Diabetic Foot
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Diabetes Mellitus,
Vol.4 No.3,
August
18,
2014
ABSTRACT: Aim of study: To assess
QOL among Saudi diabetics and to identify the possible risk factors associated
with lower QOL. Patients and Methods: This study comprised 400 diabetic
patients attending the Diabetes Clinic at theUniversityDiabetesCenterinRiyadh.
They were interviewed using the Audit of Diabetes Dependent QOL (ADDQOL).
Results: Most diabetic patients (78.7%) had negative (i.e., unfavorable)
ADDQOL scores. Diabetic patients' age, education and occupation were not
significantly associated with their QOL. Female patients had significantly
worse QOL than male patients (p = 0.026). Married patients had significantly
worse QOL compared with non-married patients (p = 0.012). Patients with type 2
diabetes had significantly worse QOL than those with type 1 diabetes (p =
0.029). Duration of diabetes was not significant factors as regard their QOL,
with the worst QOL among those with more than 20 years of diabetes. The degree
of diabetes control was significantly and directly associated with QOL score (p
i.e.,
neuropathy (p = 0.03), retinopathy (p