Abstract

INFLUENCE OF EDUCATION ON QUALITY OF LIFE IN TYPE 2 DIABETIC PATIENTS IN A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL

Siddartha Kaskurthy*, Hema Latha Nalluri, Dilli Ram Thanait, Shashidhar, Rabbani SI

ABSTRACT

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate quality of life (QoL) in Type 2 diabetic patients treated with insulin and oral hypoglycemic agents (OHA) and to estimate independent QoL by demographic characteristics, complications and co-morbidities. Materials and Methods: A prospective study was conducted and evaluation of the parameters for QoL was based on SF-36 questionnaire. Patients were divided into two groups based on route of administration of anti diabetic as Insulin and OHA group. Both the groups received diabetes education, instructions on lifestyle modifications, dietary regulations and follow up. The data was recorded, analyzed and compared to find the QoL in two groups of patients before and after diabetic education. Results: Maximum number of diabetic patients were on OHA (44.7%) followed by combination of insulin and OHA (35.2%) and only insulin (20.1%). The results showed improvement in the Knowledge and Practice scores after patient counseling. Assessment of SF 36 scores showed that there was statistically significant improvement in the QoL scores of patients at each follow up (p< 0.05) compared to baseline. Conclusion: Clinical pharmacist mediated counseling to type 2 diabetes patients significantly improved the QoL of patients. The data suggests that hospital based pharmacist’s counseling can play an important role in the multi-disciplinary healthcare team.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, SF-36 questionnaire, oral hypoglycemic Agent, quality of life.