Eureka! Institutional Repository

Introduction About half of dialysis patients are people with diabetes mellitus. The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality of life of patients with and without diabetes, who undergo dialysis. Methodology 93 patients, 46 diabetic patients with mean age of 74 (± 9) years (58.7% men and 41.3% women) and 47 non-diabetic patients with mean age of 72 (± 12) years (66.0% men and 34.0% women), without significant differences in height, weight and BMI who participated in a dialysis program. The questionnaires KDQOL-SF, the Barthel Index scale for functionality and the MNA for nutritional status were used for assessment. Results The duration of dialysis was different between the groups, with diabetics having 3.45 (± 3.6) years and non-diabetics having dialysis for 5.74 (± 6.4) years, with p <0.05. Also at the functional level diabetic patients had a lower value by 72.93 (± 28) and non-diabetic patients increased by 86.7 (± 19.48) p <0.05. Diabetic patients scored a mean of 28.17 (± 21.53) and a median score of 21.53 on the SF-12 module for physical recommendation, while non-diabetic patients scored a mean of 41.61 (± 23.58) and a median score of 38.89 with p <0.001.The two groups also differed in functional level with non-diabetics having better scores (r = 0.277, p <0.01) but also better physical composition (r = 0.299, p <0.01) and mental health (r = 0.205, p < 0.05) from diabetic patients. Marital status, is negatively correlated with social functioning in diabetics only. On the contrary, educational level is positively correlated with role emotional and mental health. Conclusions Physical functioning and role – physical were statistically different in the two groups, with diabetic patients having lower values. Therefore, improving physical condition and social functioning of diabetic patients undergoing dialysis is advisable to improve their quality of life.