Background: To evaluate the impact of diabetes mellitus type 2 on health related quality of life.
Methods: Cross-sectional study. Site: a basic health zone of the Foral Community of Navarre (12,200 inhabitants). Selection through simple random sampling (n=95) of the universe of patients diagnosed with diabetes mellitus type 2 of our basic health zone (n=655). Methods: Health Related Quality of Life evaluated with generic questionnaires SF-36 and EQ-5D; comparison of the general population samples carried out in Spain (SF-36), general population y>65 years of Navarre and Spanish diabetic population (EQ-5D).
Results: The diabetic patients have a tendency to show results lower than the general population in the following health concepts of the SF-36: "Physical Function" (76.6 +/- 27.2 SD), "Bodily Pain" (73.7 +/- 26.2 SD) , "General Health" (54.7 +/- 22.4 SD), "Social Function" (84.2 +/- 21.7 SD), "Role Emotional" (84.7 +/- 28.9 SD). Comparing the data with the general population >60 years, only two health concepts -"General Health" and "Role Emotional"- are equal to the reference values. With respect to the rates of respondents to some problem in the dimensions of the EQ-5D, the "Anxiety/Depression" dimension is outstanding with 43%. The value of the analogical visual scale in the diabetic patients is 64.6.
Conclusions: This study increases the evidence that diabetes mellitus type 2 is related to a worse perception of quality of life related to health. The impact of certain diseases on the patients should not be measured only through the quantification of objective clinical parameters (such as morbidity or mortality).