The type 1 diabetes mellitus type 1 (T1DM) is the most common endocrine disease of childhood and adolescence and it negatively impacts the quality of life (QOL). The EuroQol is an instrument that assess the health state. It has been used in most global multicenter studies in diabetes and it has been shown to be an extremely useful and reliable tool. The aim of this study is to evaluate the QOL of patients with T1DM in Brazil, a country of continental proportions, by analyzing the EuroQol. For this purpose, we performed a retrospective and cross-sectional study, which analyzed questionnaires from patients with T1DM, answered in the period of December 2008 to December 2010 in 28 research centers in 20 cities of the four regions (Southeast, North-Northeast, South and Midwest). We also collected data about chronic micro and macrovascular complications and lipid profile. The assessment of quality of life by EuroQol shows that the average score assigned to general health is markedly lower than those found in two other T1DM population studies conducted in Europe (EQ – VAS from Germany, Netherlands and Brazil were 82.1 ± 14, 81 ± 15 and 72 ± 22, respectively). The EuroQol shows that the North-Northeast region has the best index in the assessment of the overall health status compared to the Southeast and lower frequency of self-reported anxiety -depression, compared to other regions of the country (North-Northeast = 1.53 ± 0.6, Southeast = 1.65 ± 0.7, South = 1.72 ± 0.7 and Midwest = 1.67 ± 0.7, p <0.05). Additionally, several known variables (age, duration of diabetes, physical activity, HbA1c, fasting glucose, and presence of chronic complications correlated with QOL (r = -0.1, p <0.05, r = -0.1, p <0.05, r = -0.1, p <0.05, r = -0.2, p <0.05, r = -0.1, p <0.05 and r = -0.1, p <0.05, respectively). This is the first population study to evaluate the quality of life of patients with type 1 diabetes in the south hemisphere. Our data indicates poorer quality of life of patients with T1DM in Brazil when compared to data from European countries. Although we found an inferior diabetes duration and lower presence of microvascular complications in the North -Northeast region compared to other regions, our data suggests the existence of additional factors responsible for better QOL and lower presence of anxiety-depression found in this region. More studies are necessary to identify these possible factors.
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