Pdb49 Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients With Type-2 Diabetes: Korean Audit of Diabetes-Dependent Quality-of-Life

Abstract

clinics of a regional hospital in southern Taiwan. Outpatients with type 2 diabetes were invited to participate the interviews for measuring QoL. After finishing the TTO exercise for measuring QoL, a semi-structured interview was followed to explore participant's view on the methods and specific attributes for trading off. TTO results were transformed to utility value, and interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed by constant comparison approach to saturation. RESULTS: Of all, 96 of the 100 participants completed the TTO (mean age: 55.8Ϯ11.0 years, 54.2% male) the average utility is 0.692Ϯ0.217, yet most participants (nϭ68, 70.8%) accepted current health status and life expectancy and were reluctant to give up any life years to exchange a full health. At interviews, participants revealed their worries, anxiety, discomfort and disturbances of daily life related to diabetes, but those factors were not considered when trading life year and health status during TTO exercise; instead, satisfaction of life expectancy, child-caring and selfrecognition on values of life were considered. Information provided by healthcare providers, peer supports and religions were found to help patients cope with the disease and improve health-related QoL. CONCLUSIONS: For patients with chronic, stable diabetes, an adaptation process may have diluted the impacts of patients' concerns on health-related QoL, and hence trading on life years and health status is inappropriate to measure QoL utility. Further study is to explore feasibility of TTO at different stages of diabetic complications, and cross-validate between TTO and other utility measures.