Health-related quality of life in patients with diabetic foot problems in Malaysia

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of foot problems on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with diabetes in Malaysia. Short-Form 36 (SF-36) questionnaire was used to assess the HRQoL of 140 diabetic patients with foot problems attending outpatient diabetic foot clinic in a tertiary hospital, University Malaya Medical Centre. Their HRQoL were compared with 134 diabetic patients without foot problems attending the same clinic. The median score of all the eight SF-36 domains differed significantly between the two groups, where patients with foot problems having statistically significant lower scores. The two domains that were most severely compromised were components of the physical health: Physical Functioning and Role Physical domains. The SF-36 scale scores in diabetic patients with foot problems were also lower than those of the SF-36 norms for the Malaysian population. In conclusion, the results showed that diabetic foot problems negatively affect the patients' HRQoL in both physical and mental health aspects based on the SF-36.