Quality of Life of Type 2 Diabetic Patients attending a Tertiary Hospital in South-South Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Background: Type 2 Diabetes mellitus affects the quality of life of individuals and their ability to function. It affects the physical, social and mental well-being of patients with immediate and delayed complications.This study determined the quality of life of type 2 diabetic patients attending a tertiary hospital in south-south Nigeria.Methods:This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted among type 2 diabetic patients attending the medical outpatient clinic of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital between September and November 2019. Purposive sampling technique was used to select a total of 347 participants for the study following ethical approval. WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire was used to measure the QoL of the participants. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23.0. Descriptive data were presented in frequency distribution tables while summary statistics were done using mean and standard deviation for continuous variables and in proportions for categorical variables. Results:Results revealed that majority of the type 2 diabetic patients were females (53.3%) and between the ages of 51-60 years. 27.2% of them had poor overall QoL with the score of <45% while 65.7% had fair overall QoL with a score of 45-65 %. 7.1% had good overall QoL with a score of ≥65%. Conclusion:Majority of the type 2 diabetic patients had fair QoL while the least had good QoL. There is urgent need for increased health awareness and education of diabetic patients regarding diabetic care.