CONCLUSIONS— In a study of
Dutch type 2 diabetic patients, we found that older age, female sex, insulin therapy, presence of complications, and obesity were associated with a lower HRQOL.These results correspond remarkably well with the findings reported by Rubin and Peyrot, who systematically analyzed all recent literature on diabetes and quality of life (2). Studies using established generic quality-of-life measures such as the Short Form 36 (SF36), Short Form 20 (SF20), the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP), and the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP) have also reported the quality of life of diabetes patients to be lower than the average population of the same age and that quality of
life decreases with age, presence of complications, and use of insulin (2). Regarding the association between the duration since diagnosis of diabetes and quality of life, Rubin and Peyrot reported mixed results.In our study, duration of diabetes