International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | January 2016 | Vol 3 | Issue 1 Page 51 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Mohammadi S et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2016 Jan;3(1):51-56 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Research Article Evaluation of quality of life among type 2 diabetes patients Shooka Mohammadi 1 , Norimah A. Karim 1 *, Ruzita Abd.Talib 1 , Reza Amani 2 INTRODUCTION Type 2 diabetes is a chronic illness associated with high rates of comorbidity and mortality. 1 Diabetes is a serious health problem worldwide with increasing number of patients at risk for complications related to diabetes. 2 The prevalence of diabetes is rising due to the changes in lifestyle. 3-5 Type 2 diabetes was the fourth leading cause of death globally based on the report by the International Diabetes Federation. 6 Due to the high prevalence and complications, diabetes is a serious health problem in the Middle East and Persian Golf regions. 7,8 It is more alarming in developing Asian countries. In Asia, the rise in prevalence of type 2 diabetes is even more distressing with increased occurrence among young adults. 9 People in Asia are extremely at risk of diabetes. Compared to western counterparts, due to the changes in the life style pattern and white rice intake. 10 Almost 2 million adults of the Iranian people have diabetes and has been indicated that the incidence to be 7.3% - 7.7% among people over the age of 30 years. 11,12 ABSTRACT Background: Quality of life (QOL) is an essential part of health outcomes for diabetes patients. Methods: This cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the quality of life among 100 Iranian type 2 diabetes patients aged 37 to 66 years, attending the outpatient diabetes clinic at Golestan Hospital, Ahvaz, Iran, from August to October 2013. Diabetes quality of life (DQoL) questionnaire was used to determine quality of life of diabetes patients. Body weight, height, waist circumference, clinical parameters, including glycated hemoglobin A1c level (HbA1c) were also measured. Results: The mean age of men and women was 56±6.1 and 53.4± 6.7 years respectively. Sixty one present of patients were female and 39 % were male with 4.05 ± 1.4 mean years duration of diabetes. The mean total DQOL was 54.6± 2.4, a moderate quality of life and was associated with diabetes care and treatment adherence. The mean for diabetes- related worry was 77.5 ±7.05. Conclusions: Male diabetic patients in comparison with female diabetic patients, non-insulin-treated patients compared with insulin-treated patients had better quality of life. HbA1c higher than 7%, was associated with higher probabilities of worse quality of life among patients. More studies are needed to include larger study populations among Iranian type 2 diabetes patients in order to help health care providers develop proper health care programs for diabetic patients in Iran. Keywords: Type 2 diabetes, Quality of life, Iran 1 Nutrition Sciences Programme, School of Healthcare Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2 Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Para Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran Received: 22 October 2015 Accepted: 07 December 2015 *Correspondence: Dr. Norimah A. Karim, E-mail: norimahkarim@ukm.edu.my Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20151485