Appraisal Of Quality Of Life Of Diabetic Patients, Including Life Expectancy

Abstract

Objective: To review the literature on quality of life of diabetic patients, and the impact it has on their life expectancy.
Data Base: Medline, pubmed, google scholar.
Results: Of the several articles yielded by the search, 14 were eventually analyzed. 11 of them were case reports while 3 were original articles. The review showed that patients with diabetes mellitus had signicantly low scores in all four domains of quality of life (physical health, psychological health, social relations, and environment).
Conclusion: Diabetes mellitus has a negative inuence on quality of life, and by extension life expectancy of its sufferers. Current research has shown that there is no signicant difference in the assessment of quality of life regarding gender, age, or the level of education of the patients. Though there are 3 major ways in which diabetes negatively affects well-being, that is the development of long-term complications, development of short-term complications, and physical symptoms and lifestyle changes resulting from the demands of the diabetic regimen, the major determinant of quality of life among diabetic patients was the development of complications with the most common being arterial hypertension, neuropathy, impaired vision, elevated blood lipids and amputation of toes or feet. Future research should therefore focus on how these complications can be prevented, or detected early. 

Key words: Type 2 Diabetes, quality of life, life expectancy, diabetic complications.