Quality of life of people with Diabetes Mellitus type 2

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a disease which no longer has the classic symptoms, which develops complications very quietly and which disables many people during their productive life disrupting their quality of life. Aim: To determine the quality of life in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 in relation to gender and type of the applied treatment. Methods: A cross-sectional study examined the quality of life of 100 respondents suffering from diabetes mellitus type 2, of both sexes, aged 19-59 in relation to sex and applied therapy. Respondents were divided into two groups based on therapy. The control group consisted of 50 respondents without diabetes mellitus. Assessment of quality of life was performed using the SF-36 questionnaire consisting of 8 segments, grouped in the dimension of physical and mental health. Results: A total of 150 respondents, divided into 3 groups, were analyzed. In the first group were respondents with oral agents (38.7%), in the second on combined therapy (28%), while the third was a control group (33.3%). By the analysis of gender representation within the examined groups of subjects, significant differences were found with the domination of men in the second group, and women in the first and the third groups (X-2 = 2, df = 2, p < 0.001). The values of SF-36 score expressed as the median of the studied groups were: 77.50, 62.64, 92.22 (Ht = 104.41, p < 0.0001). There is a significant difference between SF-36 score in relation to gender in the total sample (Z = 3.29, p = 0.001), with higher values in women. However, within the examined groups there was not significant difference in the first and the third groups (Z = 1.56, 1.53, p = 0.12, 0.13), while in the second one a significantly higher SF-36 was found among female subjects (Z = 2.75, p = 0.006). Also, significant difference between physical and mental dimensions of SF-36 score was found and its different domains related to the control group (Ht = 103.33; 97.98, p < 0.0001; Ht = 97.98, p < 0.0001; Ht = 36.571-105.9; p < 0.001). Conclusion: Quality of life of people with diabetes mellitus type 2 is exacerbated and associated with patient gender and type of the treatment.