The Impact of Comorbid Diabetes Type 2 on Quality of Life in Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Cancer and diabetes are two highly prevalent diseases worldwide and greatly influence quality of life of those suffering from it. The study aimed to compare quality of life in patients diagnosed with cancer and diabetes with those without diabetes both undergoing chemotherapy and to investigate the factors responsible for the difference between the two groups. METHODS: A convenience sample of 101 participants who had cancer and type 2 diabetes and 99 who had cancer without diabetes were used. RESULTS: Patients with comorbid diabetes were divided based on their diabetes duration and whether they had glycaemic control or not. Diabetic cancer patients without glycaemic control had lower scores in global health status and in physical and emotional functioning compared to diabetic cancer patients with glycaemic control and patients without diabetes (p < .05). After adjusting for demographic characteristics, the differences between the group with diabetes and without glycaemic control and the other two groups regarding global health status were statistically significant (p < .05). Patients with more than a 7-year history of diabetes had a significantly lower emotional functioning than the no diabetes group and lower global health status score than both of the other groups (p < .05). After adjusting for clinical and demographic characteristics, only the difference between the ≥ 7 years diabetes duration group and the no diabetes groups remained significant. CONCLUSION: The presence of diabetes in cancer patients who underwent chemotherapy seems to negatively influence certain domains of quality of life and this may be affected by the duration of diabetes and whether glycaemic control has been achieved or not.