Objectives：To compare on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of diabetic patients from different glycemic control groups, and addressed the association of oxidation products, antioxidant enzymes activities and HRQOL among different groups.
Methods：Total of 176 diabetic subjects were attending the Outpatient Department at Kuang Tien General Hospital in central area, Taiwan. The diabetic patients were divided into three groups according to average HbA1C values: lower HbA1C ≤ 7%, medium HbA1C 7- 8%, and higher HbA1C ≥ 8%. A control group of 40 healthy volunteers was also recruited from blood donors. The HRQOL is measured with the aid of WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire (four domains：physical health, psychological, social relationships and environment), and a higher score indicates better HRQOL. Blood lipid peroxidation (MDA) levels, antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities were also determined. Results: The study showed a significant increase of MDA levels, higher SOD and lower GPx/catalase activity and worse HRQOL in the diabetic patients than in the healthy subjects. Patients with lower HbA1C have similar scores of HRQOL compared with higher HbA1C groups, but were significantly worse than in medium HbA1C group. In lower HbA1C group, the scores of HRQOL in physical health and environment were poorer than the scores for medium and higher HbA1C groups. By contrast, plasma MDA demonstrated negative correlations with scores in these domains |
