Quality of life and its determinants among ambulatory diabetic patients attending NCD prevention clinic: A cross sectional study from Eastern India

Introduction: India is experiencing an upward spiral in diabetic population. With the impact of diabetes on physical, social, psychological components of individual's life, a holistic view in terms of Quality of Life (QoL) is being increasingly recognized as an essential component of diabetes care and management. The objective of this study was to evaluate the QoL in ambulatory diabetic patients and factors affecting it in a tertiary care medical institution in eastern India.Material and methods: In this cross-sectional study, 103 adult diabetic ambulatory patients were recruited by systematic random sampling from a Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Clinic of a tertiary care hospital of Eastern India. The QoL of patients were accessed by the validated Odia version of WHO-QoL BREF questionnaire. Bivariate analysis was performed to compare the effect of sociodemographic and clinical parameters on QoL scores. Results: The maximum domain wise score was in social (65.98 & PLUSMN; 13.89) followed by environmental (61.73 & PLUSMN; 16.27) domain. Overall, 64% of the respondents perceived as their QoL as good. Males, urban residents, persons aged less than 60 years and overweight individuals reported a better QoL than their counterparts. Gender and residence were found to be significantly associated with QoL, across domains.Conclusions: QoL assessment is pivotal as an outcome measure in diabetes care and management. Policy makers ought to consider quality adjusted life years while evaluating health outcomes in patients of chronic diseases like diabetes.