Abstract:
Background: There has been an increasing interest in health-related quality of life. Because diabetic and its complications are responsible for reducing quality of life of individuals in recent years Quality of life is varied among individuals with respect to individual's perception, socio demographic and cultural and medical factors. Quality of life is not known in the study area so it is important to assess the magnitude of diabetic related quality of life among individuals in order to improve their treatment outcome. Objective: The objective of this study is to assess quality of life and associated factors among diabetic cases in Felege Hiwot Referral Hospital. Methods and materials: Institutional based cross-sectional study design was used to conduct quality of life assessment among 522 diabetic cases that were randomly selected using systematic sampling procedure. The data were collected using structured questionnaire after getting one day training by the principal investigator. Data was checked for completeness, consistency and coded before entry. Data was entered into EPI Info and analyzed using SPSS version 16. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was computed to test the strength of association and level of significance. P-value <0.05 was considered as statistical ·significant. Results: Among the participants, about 39.5% found to have good quality of life. Those participants who are single were four times more likely to have good quality of life compared with widowed [AOR=4.23, Cl: 1.10-16.19]. Whereas, married individuals were three times more likely to have good quality of life [AOR=3.85, Cl: 1.38-10.73]. Participants whose BMI 25-29 were three times more likely to have good quality of life compared with BMI less than 18 [AOR=3.23, Cl: 1.07-9.72]. Individuals who have higher level of functioning were 0.44 times less likely to have good quality of life when compared to lower level of functioning [AOR=0.44, Cl: 0.26-0.74]. Individuals who have medium adherence to food recommendation were 0.42 times less likely to have good quality of life when compared to those individuals with high adherence to food recommendation [AOR=0.42, Cl: 0.23-0.75]. Individuals who have low level of stigma were three times more likely to have good quality of life when compared to those individuals with high level of stigma [AOR=3.70, Cl: 1.49-9.17] Conclusion and recommendation: The finding of this study showed that a considerable proportion of patients had good quality of life (39.5%). Differences in marital status, occupation, BMI, adherence to food recommendation, level of functioning and level of stigma were showed statistically significant association with quality of life of diabetic patients. It is better that health professionals have to give more focus of attention for assessing and managing stigma and physical functioning impairment so as to improve quality of life of diabetes and health education should be given for diabetic cases about the means of controlling BMI and improve adherence to their food recommendation and reducing stigma. Keywords:-Quality of life, Diabetes mellitus, associated factors v Currently there has been an increasing interest in quality of life issues and especially in health-related quality of life because quality of life is increasingly recognized as an