Depression, Anxiety and Quality of Life of Family Caregivers of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Objective: It was our aim to investigate the quality of life (QOL) among family caregivers of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Subjects and Methods: The Short Form-36 QOL scale, Beck Depression Inventory and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Form were used to evaluate the presence and degree of depression and anxiety and their association with sociodemographic features of 50 family caregivers of diabetic patients compared to 54 controls. Results: The groups were similar in terms of age, sex, health insurance, educational status and marital and financial status. Beck Depression Inventory scores were significantly higher in family caregivers (p = 0.001) than in controls. Depression as a categorical variable was significantly more frequent among family caregivers of diabetic patients than among controls (p < 0.001). The social function component of the QOL of controls was better than that of family caregivers (p < 0.005). There was no difference between groups in terms of anxiety. Conclusion: Family caregivers of diabetic patients appeared to be more prone to depression and tended to have a poorer QOL. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel