PMU87 Health-Related Quality of Life of Chronic Patients in Comparison to General Population in Slovenia

Abstract

The objective of our research was to compare health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients aged 65+ with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and/or hypertension (HT) to HRQoL of general population 60 years and of age and over in Slovenia. A survey was conducted on a convenience sample of 72 HT patients, 20 T2D patients and 110 patients having T2D and HT. HRQoL was measured using EQ-5D-5L, with five dimensions: mobility (MO), self-care (SC), usual activities (UA), pain/discomfort (PD), and anxiety/depression (AD). The results were compared to Slovenian EQ-5D-5L population norms. The research was conducted within the EU-funded H2020 SCUBY project. Health problems were less frequently reported by patients compared to general population 60+ on all dimensions except SC (MO: 41%/44%; SC: 28%/9%; UA: 14%/26%; PD: 51%/68%; AD: 28%/35%). However, patients reported more moderate to severe problems (MO: 19%/14%; SC: 11%/3%; UA: 7%/6%; PD: 26%/20%; AD: 10%/8%). Between patient groups, patients having both diseases (T2D and HT) were associated with higher share of problems on all health dimensions. EQ VAS comparisons between the four groups show similar quality of life (T2D:78.2, HT: 74.5, HT+T2D: 74.7, general population 60+: 76.2). The EQ-5D index results are similar as well (T2D: 0.807, HT: 0.807, HT+T2D: 0.769, general population 60+: 0.761). The results show that (1) on average HRQoL of all three groups of chronic patients are similar to of general population, measured by EQ-5D index and EQ VAS score; (2) the level of mild problems with all the dimensions seem to be used highly among the general population; in order to get objective insight, it is important that each level of problems for each dimension is compared separately among the groups.