Diabetes self-management, fasting blood sugar and quality of life among type 2 diabetic patients with foot ulcers.

BACKGROUND Diabetic foot ulcers have a negative impact on quality of life and diabetes self-management of the condition is a key component of diabetes treatment. However no study has yet been conducted to determine the relationship between diabetes self-management, fasting blood sugar and quality of life among type 2 diabetic patients with foot ulcers in Thailand. OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between diabetes self-management, fasting blood sugar and quality of life (QOL) among type 2 diabetic patients with foot ulcers who received the diabetes treatment in King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Thailand. MATERIAL AND METHOD This was a cross-sectional study of 80 participants with type 2 diabetes who had foot ulcers in King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand. Participants with diabetic foot ulcers were given a questionnaire regarding demographic data, fasting blood sugar, diabetes self-management and quality of life. Self-management was assessed by evaluating dietary intake, exercise, medication, self-monitoring, hygienic and foot care. WHOQOL-BREF-THAI, comprising of 26 items, was used to investigate quality of life. A purposive sampling technique was used for selecting patients from two outpatient departments, surgical and rehabilitation. Data were collected between September 2009 and October 2010. Simple descriptive statistics were used to provide the basic information and Pearson's product moment was applied. RESULTS The majority (51.3%) of study participants were males and in the age group of > 60 years (50%). Over half (61.5%) of the participants had a severity of foot ulcer at the first level. The analysis revealed that there was a negative significant association between fasting blood sugar and quality of life (r = -0.30, p < 0.05). Furthermore, diabetes self-management had a significant association with quality of life (r = 0.35, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION The results in the present study suggest that good quality of life is significantly related to good diabetes self-management and fasting blood sugar control in type 2 diabetes patients with foot ulcers. Therefore, these patients should be encouraged to perform self-management for controlling their blood sugar and improving their quality of life.