Health-related quality of life and health utility among patients with diabetes in Zabol, Southeast Iran

Objectives The current study aimed to assess the factors associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and health utility (HU) among patients with diabetes in Zabol, Southeast Iran. Methods Among patients referred to Zabol city diabetes clinic, a total of 213 consecutive patients 18 years and older consent to participate in the study in 2015. The Persian version of EuroQol-5D-3L (EQ-5D-3L) using the UK preference weights was applied to derive HU. Logistic regression and ordinary least squares were used for data analysis. The STATA version 13 (StataCorp LP, College Station, TX, USA) was used for statistical analysis. Results The highest and lowest proportions of "some or extreme problems" were seen in pain/discomfort (86.6%) and self-care (27.8%) dimensions of the EQ-5D-3L, respectively. About 33% of women and 14% of men rated their health worse than death (p=0.002). The mean EQ-5D-3L index score and visual analogue scale were 0.37 (95% CI: 0.31-0.42) and 51.6 (95% CI: 48.7-54.5), respectively. Older age at diagnosis, longer duration of diabetes, lower education, and history of macrovascular complications were associated with lower HRQoL and HU. Conclusion This study highlights the importance of education and diabetes-related complications in HRQoL/HU of diabetes people. The findings suggest that urgent interventions are required to improve HRQoL/HU of diabetes patients in Zabol. Moreover, our results provide inputs for future economic evaluation studies among diabetes patients with similar socioeconomic status in Iran.