Quality of life and diabetes

Quality of life is an important health outcome in its own right, representi ng the ultimate goal of all health interventions. This paper reviews the pu blished, English-language literature on self-perceived quality of life amon g adults with diabetes. Quality of life is measured as physical and social functioning, and perceived physical and mental well-being. People with diab etes have a worse quality of life than people with no chronic illness, but a better quality of life than people with most other serious chronic diseas es. Duration and type of diabetes are not consistently associated with qual ity of life. Intensive treatment does not impair quality of life, and havin g better glycemic control is associated with better quality of life. Compli cations of diabetes are the most important disease-specific determinant of quality of life. Numerous demographic and psychosocial factors influence qu ality of life and should be controlled when comparing subgroups. Studies of clinical and educational interventions suggest that improving patients' he alth status and perceived ability to control their disease results in impro ved quality of life. Methodologically, it is important to use multidimensio nal assessments of quality of Life, and to include both generic and disease -specific measures. Quality of life measures should be used to guide and ev aluate treatment interventions. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.