Abstract
Data on physical activity (PA) and sleep duration (SD) as important correlates of quality of life (QoL) among diabetic patients are scarce. This study investigated the pattern of self-reported PA, SD and QoL in purposively selected diabetes patients (N = 124, mean age: 54.61) at two major hospitals in Kano, Nigeria. Respondents’ PA level, SD and QoL were estimated using the International PA Questionnaire, a single-item measure of sleep and the Short Form-36 Health Survey respectively. Nighttime SD was estimated in hours and the mean for the previous seven days was recorded. Respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics were also obtained while weight and height were measured. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics (Spearman correlation) at p ≤0.05. 56.5%, 37.9% and 5.6% of them had low, moderate and high PA levels respectively. 57 (46%) slept for <6 hours and 67 (54%) for 6-8 hours. While 86% had QoL physical component summary of <50, 13% had ≥50. Those with mental component summary <50 (57.3%) were also more than those with values ≥50 (42.7%). There was no significant correlation between PA and either of the two clinical variables (sleep duration [p = 0.075, r = 0.160] and QoL [SF-36 PSC, p = 0.435, r = 0.071; SF-36 MSC, p = 0.379, r = -0.080]). Furthermore, SD did not significantly correlate with QoL (p > 0.05). In conclusion, the majority of the respondents were not meeting any of the criteria for either moderate or high levels of PA with SD being poor for significant proportion of them for optimal QoL and general wellbeing. Key words: Physical activity; Sleep duration; Quality of life; Diabetes mellitus; Northwestern Nigeria.
Highlights
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a syndrome characterized by chronic hyperglycemia due to deficient production of insulin or ineffectiveness in its utilization by the cells, leading to abnormally high levels of glucose in circulation (International Diabetes Federation, 2019)
There were more respondents with scores indicating lower than average quality of life in physical component of the SF-36 health survey than those with scores ≥50
About 60% of them had normal body mass index (Table 1) and over half of them were in the low physical activity category (Figure 1)
Summary
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a syndrome characterized by chronic hyperglycemia due to deficient production of insulin or ineffectiveness in its utilization by the cells, leading to abnormally high levels of glucose in circulation (International Diabetes Federation, 2019). It is the most common metabolic disease and has been recognized as a clinical syndrome since ancient times (Marianna et al, 2016).
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