Objectives: Diabetes is a common chronic disease in the elderly that affects their quality of lives. As “quality of life” is one of the most important factors and indicators of health, this study examined the “quality of life” in the diabetic elderly people.
Methods & Materials: This descriptive-analytic study was conducted on diabetic elderly people living in Kerman, Iran, in 2013. A total of 120 patients were randomly selected with multistage sampling method. For data collection, the demographic and SF-36 questionnaires were used. Then, the obtained data were analyzed by SPSS version 18 by conducting t-test, correlation coefficient, and analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Results: The results showed that the mean age of the subjects was 71.5 years. The total “quality of life” score of diabetic patients was 46.48. The elderly showed that the highest mean among the 8 dimensions of “quality of life” in physical health dimension belonged to general health (47.87), and with regard to mental health dimension, the highest score was in social function (49.78). The total score of physical dimension was 44.89, and the total score of mental dimension was 48.07. Furthermore, the results of t-test and 1-way ANOVA indicated that there were significant correlations between “quality of life” and variables of sex, educational level, complications of diabetes, income, age, duration of diabetes, and body mass index (P≤0.05).
Conclusion: In our society, no normative standard has been set for the “quality of life.” However, the mean value of 50 with standard deviation of 10 can be an acceptable and standard score for the “quality of life” among the elderly. The mean score of “quality of life” among diabetic elderly people in this study was 46.48 which was lower than our standard. Also, in studying the 8 dimensions of “quality of life,” the mean score of all dimensions was lower than 50. Prevalence of chronic diseases like diabetes among the older people could end in lowering the mean score of physical dimensions as compared to mental dimensions of “quality of life.” Something that was mentioned in the present study, too.The lower quality of life among women could be due to gender inequality in using health system. As a result, the women are more vulnerable to problems as well as mental and physical diseases which decreases their quality of lives. There was a significant relationship between the educational level of diabetic older people and their quality of lives. Those with higher educational level enjoyed a better quality of life. The effect of higher education on the “quality of life” could be due to the people’sawareness of the importance of diet, exercise, proper medication, and control of risk factors of chronic diseases like diabetes. Furthermore,he higher education could increase quality of life through promotion of social class, increasing income, and self-esteem. Also, the people with higher education, armed with their health knowledge and using self-care methods provide the grounds for increasing their quality of lives.As regards the increasing rate of diabetic patients in ageing population and considering that chronic diseases affect and lower physical and mental aspects of “quality of life” in older people, and in line with improving the “quality of life” in these people, we suggest that policymakers and authorities pay proper attention to physical, mental, and social support of this group.