Quality of life in children with diabetes at Kenyatta National Hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Health related quality of life of an individual includes domains related to physical, mental, social and emotional functioning with regard to their health status. Diabetes mellitus is the commonest paediatric endocrinology disease and children with diabetes face challenges of adjusting their lifestyle and adherence to the treatment plan which might affect their quality of life. Objective: Assess Quality of Life in children with diabetes compared to their non diabetic peers. Methodology: This was a comparative cross sectional study that included 156 children aged 2 – 18 years (78 diabetic children at Kenyatta National Hospital endocrinology clinic and 78 controls matched for sex age and residence). Questionnaires (PedsQL version 4.0 for both the groups and PedsQL diabetes module version 3.0 for diabetics) were administered for the diabetic group and telephone interviews were conducted for the control group.Parent proxy reports were also obtained in all the groups. Data was analyzed using SPSS 17.0 Results: Mean age was 11.7± 4.3 for children with diabetes and 11.7± 4.2 for controls. Mean duration of diabetes was 35.02 ± 32 months. Diabetic patients were found to have a lower quality of life than their non diabetic peers (p < 0.05). Older age, male gender, self administration of insulin and adherence to insulin therapy were associated with better HRQOL in children with diabetes. Older age was also associated with better diabetic related QOL. Age at diagnosis, duration of treatment and compliance to follow up, glycemic control level of education of parent, residence, family setting and did not affect quality of life. Conclusion: Children with diabetes have a lower quality of life compared to their non diabetic peers. Recommendation: Children with diabetes should be followed up keenly to achieve better quality of life.