Quality of life in diabetic, otherwise ill and healty persons

Sixty-five diabetic subjects were compared with 185 otherwise ill and 50 healthy subjects in order to highlight the quality of life issuess. The samples were matched according to gender, education and family status, while age was slightly lower in the group of healthy subjects. The World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL) was used to assess the individual quality of life. WHOQOL inquires into the respondent's perception and subjective evaluation of life position including physical health, psychological state, level of independence, social relationships, personal beliefs and relationships to salient features of the environment. Analysis of variance was used to compare diabetic versus other ill and healthy subjects. The group variability was statistically significant with regard to physical domain (F=18.98, p=.0001) and level of independence (F=26.83, p=.0001). Scheffe tests revealed that healthy subjects gave significantly higher ratings, indicating better quality of life than either patient group. Diabetic subjects gave higher ratings for the physical domain than other ill subjects. The level of F ratio significance remained unchanged with age as a covariate. The results indicating psychological state, social relationships, personal beliefs and environmental factors did not differ between the groups.