Abstract
Psychiatric disorders are more common in diabetic than in non‐diabetic subjects. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of psychiatric disorders on the health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) of diabetic patients, using the Swedish Health‐Related Quality of Life Survey (SWED‐QUAL), a generic HRQOL questionnaire developed from the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS). A total of 413 diabetic patients (including both type 1 and type 2) were contacted, and 289 replied to the questionnaire.
Diabetic patients with a psychiatric disorder (n = 38) showed a decreased HRQOL on three out of 13 scales (p<0.01) compared with diabetic patients with no psychiatric disorder (n = 251), ie on ‘role limitations due to emotional health’, ‘sleep problems’, and ‘cognitive functioning’. Compared with the standard population sample (SPS) controls, diabetic patients with psychiatric disorders showed a decreased HRQOL on ten scales, and patients with no psychiatric disease on six scales (p<0.01). The use of psycho‐active drugs was associated with a worse outcome with respect to the HRQOL, ie in 24.4% of the diabetic patients, compared with 14.8% with a psychiatric disorder.
The conclusion is that patients with psychiatric disorders are a large subgroup in the diabetes population and that these disorders have a considerable impact on the HRQOL, thus demanding special efforts towards better care.