Depression and health-related quality of life of patients with diabetes mellitus type II: data from Serres province, Greece

Introduction: Diabetes Mellitus Type II (DM II) is a chronic disease that particularly affects the patients' Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL). Aim: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of various depression levels on HRQOL in DM II patients in Serres province of Northern Greece. Methodology: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted from January 2016 to March 2016. The study involved 100 patients diagnosed with DM II who were approached through the Diabetic Association of Serres province. Data were collected with the following research tools: a) a questionnaire with socio-demographic and clinical data, b) the questionnaire Audit of Diabetes Dependent Quality of Life Questionnaire (ADDQoL-19),and c) the Beck II depression scale. Statistical analysis of the results was performed using the statistical program IBM SPSS Statistics v23.0. Results: Forty five percent of the diabetic patients under study, present symptoms of depression which affected their HRQOL. Specifically, the more depression increases, the more the level of quality of life of the patients is decreased. Correlations between gender, age, marital status, educational level, place of residence and profession of the participants with the quality of the patients' life showed that only the place of residence affected their quality of life (F=5.208, p=0.015). Conclusions: Patients with diabetes mellitus type II present low HRQOL levels and a high rate of depression symptoms. The results of the present research could help develop new integrated healthcare programs for patients with diabetes mellitus type II with emphasis to psychosocial interventions.