Relationship between health-related quality of life and risk factors in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Special Issue “Health in context” : 24th annual conference of the European health Psychology society, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 1st-4th September 2010 / guest editors: Paul Norman and Adriana BabanStudies show that type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) negatively impacts health-related quality of life (HRQoL). But only a few studies show how risk factors of DM2 impact HRQoL. Objectives – to disclose the relationship between HRQoL and BMI, arterial blood pressure and level of cholesterol. Methods: 242 patients with DM2 (79 males, 163 females) were investigated in year 2009 by using WHOQoL-BREF questionnaire. The mean age of participants was 60.11 (SD 10.05) years. The multiple stepwise regression analysis was used to evaluate relationship between HRQoL and BMI, arterial blood pressure and levels of cholesterol. Results: The regression analysis showed positive correlation between physical health domain and hdl level of cholesterol in both male ( ¼0.728; p¼0.040) and female ( ¼0.412; p¼0.037) patients. Psychological state domain was positively related to hdl level of cholesterol in females ( ¼0.408; p¼0.039) and negatively related to ldl level of cholesterol in males ( ¼ 0.715; p¼0.046). No correlation was found between HRQoL and BMI and arterial blood pressure. Age was negatively related to physical health in males ( ¼ 0.570; p¼0.020), but not in females. Duration of illness was negatively correlated with psychological state in females ( ¼ 0.412; p¼0.024). Conclusion: Lower HRQoL in males and females with DM2 may be differently influenced by status of risk factorsLietuvos sveikatos mokslų universitetasLietuvos sveikatos mokslų universitetas. Endokrinologijos institutasPsichologijos katedraVytauto Didžiojo universiteta