Impact of pharmaceutical care on quality of life in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

BACKGROUND Diabetes mellitus has become an international healthcare crisis that requires new approaches to prevent and treat it. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of pharmaceutical care on quality of life (QOL) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. METHODS A prospective study on impact of pharmaceutical care on QOL in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus was conducted in a private tertiary care teaching hospital in South India for a period of 8 months. Study was done on 120 eligible patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus enrolled randomly in the intervention group (with pharmaceutical care teachings) or the control (without drug related educations). The intervention group patients received pharmaceutical care through diabetes education, medication counseling, instructions on lifestyle that needed modifications (necessary for better drug function) and dietary regulations regarding their prescribed drugs, whereas the control group patients were deprived of any pharmaceutical care till the end of the study. The "Audit of Diabetes Dependent Quality of Life" standard questionnaire was used to assess the relevant parameters (including: Fasting Blood Glucose, HbA1c, Body Mass Index) and to evaluate the impact of the pharmaceutical care on the subjects. Data were analyzed using t-student test. RESULTS The intervention group showed an improvement in the quality of life score from -2.156 ± 0.12 at the baseline to -1.41 ± 0.13 at the final interview (p < 0.01). The average HbA1c values decreased from 8.44 ± 0.29% to 6.73 ± 0.21% (p < 0.01). There was a significant decrease in the fasting blood glucose from 195.57 ± 10.10 mg/dl to 107.25 ± 3.70 mg/dl between the baseline and the final interview in the intervention group (p < 0.01). The findings in the diabetes treatment satisfaction score also changed in a similar pattern. CONCLUSIONS The pharmaceutical care program was effective in improving the clinical outcome and the patients' QOL with type 2 diabetes mellitus.