Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in a Rural Area

Objective: To discern health-related quality of life of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in a rural area of south-eastern Spain. Methodology: A transversal descriptive study in which we analysed the link between development of the type 2 diabetes mellitus disease process and the quality of life of these patients. The SF-36 health survey was used as a tool during our study. A simple random sampling was carried out on diabetic patients (N= 491), sample size precision 3%, confidence level 95% and 15% compensation for loss resulting in a sample of N= 169. The data was analysed with SPSS 18.0 software. Results: The type 2 diabetic population has a quality of life score of more than 50 in most of the survey's aspects. We found the lowest scores for the aspect of "Bodily Pain" (48.5). Extremely high scores were found for the aspects: "Physical Functioning" (75.5), "Role-Physical" (87.8) and "Role-Emotional" (84.7). Statistically significant differences were observed between men and women for "Bodily Pain" and "Social Functioning" (p< 0.001). Patients over 60 have higher scores for "Bodily Pain" (p< 0.001). Conclusions: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with poor self-perceived health-related quality of life (HRQOL). The HRQOL of female diabetic patients is especially affected. Diabetic patients perceive a decrease in satisfaction with their health as their age increases.