Comparison of Quality of Life among Adolescents with and without Diabetes in Gujrat, Pakistan

Objective: To compare the quality of life among adolescents with and without diabetes and explore the association of age and gender with diabetes. Study Design: Cross-sectional comparative study. Place and Duration of Study: Different Clinics and Hospitals, of District, Gujrat Pakistan, from Sep 2020 to Mar 2021. Methodology: Adolescents with diabetes who had an HbA1C level of ≥6.5%, and age-matched, healthy adolescents as controls were included. The adolescents with diabetes were sub-grouped into early and late adolescents based on age (10-14 years and 15-19 years, respectively). Youth Quality of Life Questionnaire was used as the investigative tool. Results: Twenty-nine adolescents (mean age: 14.2±2.9 years) were in the Diabetes-Group, and 356 adolescents (mean age: 14.8±2.7 years) were in the Control-Group. The Control-Group had significantly better mean scores in each domain than the Diabetes-Group (p<0.001). Early adolescents with diabetes had better scores in the self-care domain (p=0.014) than late adolescents. The scores remained uninfluenced by gender in adolescents with diabetes (p=0.118, 0.284, 0.185, 0.419, and 0.169, respectively). Conclusion: The quality of life scores among our study adolescents with diabetes was poor as compared to the age-matched healthy adolescents. Age appeared to be a negative factor for the quality of life parameters among adolescents with diabetes.