Health- Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) among persons with diabetes is an important public health issue throughout the world. As per the information available, no study has been conducted till date to determine HRQoL using EQ-5D-5L in person with diabetes in Nepal. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess HRQoL in persons with diabetes and to identify factors associated with it. Hospital based cross sectional study was conducted in two diabetes centers of Kathmandu district. Study population included persons already diagnosed with diabetes from diabetes centers. We recruited 225 participants and they were interviewed using the standard Nepali version of the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire and some additional questionnaire based on extensive literature review. Independent t-test was used to find the bivariate association of HRQoL and other factors. Variables with p-value<0.05 in bivariate analysis were fitted into linear regression after fulfilling the assumptions. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the Institute of Medicine. The study found that HRQoL among persons with diabetes was 0.53. Study found significant association with self-reported complications, age, insulin use, employment, education and duration of diabetes in bivariate analysis. In the multivariate analysis using the linear regression, study found that HRQoL was positively associated with education (β= 0.03), employment (β= 0.11). Similarly, study found that health related quality of life was negatively associated with self-reported complications (β= -0.10), insulin use (β= -0.11) and age (β= -0.09). Fitting the equation in linear regression revealed that 40% of change in HRQoL in persons with diabetes can be predicted by self-reported complications, employment, education, age, and insulin use. Our study findings were similar to other studies conducted in Southeast Asian region. HRQoL was lower compared to studies conducted in most of the developed countries.

Disclosure

S. Acharya: None. A. Dhakal: None.

Readers may use this article as long as the work is properly cited, the use is educational and not for profit, and the work is not altered. More information is available at http://www.diabetesjournals.org/content/license.