engleski

Individual Perception of Overall Quality of Life and General Health: Which Life Aspects are taken into Consideration?

Background and aims: Knowing about patients’ quality of life (QoL) is becoming increasingly important in delivering diabetes care. This study was aimed to examine how particular life aspects contribute to the individuals’ ratings of their overall quality of life and general health. Patients and methods: 395 patients who attended a 5-day educational course were evaluated regarding their QoL at baseline, and after 3- and 18-month follow-up periods. The sample comprised 183 males and 212 females aged 39.2  15.1 years, with diabetes duration for 11.4  8.7 yrs, treated with insulin in 89% cases, with baseline HbA1C values 8.6%  2.3 having improved to 8.0%  1.8 and 7.8%  1.6 after 3 and 18 months respectively, educated at primary (10.4%), secondary (66.6%) and university level (23%), the majority (89.8%) living with families. The WHOQoL-BREF was used to assess the individual QoL. This 26-item generic instrument covered the respondent’ s overall QoL and general health, as well as four domains referring to physical health, psychological state, social relationships and environmental circumstances. Regression analysis was employed to determine the contribution of particular QoL domains to the patients’ ratings of their overall QoL and general health. Results: Psychological domain was shown to be the best predictor of overall QoL (Beta =.284 Sign .000), followed by Environment (Beta= .281 Sign .000) and Social relationships domain (Beta=.178 Sign .000). Physical and psychological domains were the best predictors of general health (Beta= .334 Sign .000 and Beta=.268 Sign .000). The predictive value of these domains were shown to be consistent at both follow-up assessments. Conclusion: The patients’ overall QoL seems to be primarily determined by psychological state, environmental factors and social relations, while their evaluation of general health is comparably associated with physical and psychological factors. Using these simple self-assessments might be helpful in clinical routine when more comprehensive measures are not available.

Diabetes mellitus; quality of life

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