Quality Of Life and Depression among Patients with Type I Diabetes: A Study of Gender Differences

Diabetes is a progressive chronic condition which places a significant burden of self management on the individual, such as daily monitoring and medications management, worry about the future and distress about the impact of diabetes on various aspects of life. It is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by elevated blood glucose levels (hyperglycemia) resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action or both. The present study aimed to assess gender differences in quality of life and depression in patients suffering from type I diabetes. A sample of 70 participants (44 male and 26 female) in the age range of 40-80 years was collected from Jammu region, India. WHO Quality of life questionnaire and Beck’s Depression inventory-II were used as tools. Results indicated a significant difference on physical and psychological dimensions of quality of life and on depression across gender. The mean scores indicated that female participants had increased level of depression compared to the male participants. No significant difference was found between male and female on social and environmental dimensions of quality of life.