QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN DIABETIC-PATIENTS REGISTERED WITH PRIMARY HEALTH-CARE SERVICES IN SWEDEN

Objective - To evaluate the health-related quality of life in diabetic subjects in primary health care. Design - A cross-sectional, question naire survey of diabetic patients registered with primary health servi ces, compared with a standard population sample. Setting - Three commu nity health centres in the Metropolitan Stockholm area. Subjects - 341 diabetic individuals aged 21-84 years, with 229 respondents, i.e. 67% . Matched controls of the same age and sex from a standard population sample of 2366 individuals. Main outcome measures - Quality of life wa s assessed by the Swedish Health-Related Quality of Life Survey (SWED- QUAL), adapted from the Medical Outcomes Study and consisting of 61 it ems covering aspects of physical, mental, social, and general health. Medical data were extracted from the medical records. Results - Diabet ic patients had significantly lower stores on all scales (p<0.001 for ten, and p<0.01 for one), except for social health, when compared with the standard population sample. Outcomes were correlated with vascula r and non-vascular comorbidity, age, and income, but not with level of metabolic control. Conclusions - Diabetic patients in primary health care have a markedly lower health-related quality of life, compared wi th a standard population.