This study
aims to assess the influence of type 2 diabetes on the patients’
productivity and quality of life.
The WHO’s methodology – HLQ (Health and Labor Questionnaire) is
applied. Subjects were 38 patients with type 2 diabetes, diagnosed
and treated at the Clinical center on endocrinology at the MU-Specialized
hospital center for active treatment-Sofia. Control consisted
of 100 patients without diabetes.
The results from the study proofs the fact that the patients with
type 2 diabetes manage with their day-to-day activities like their
colleagues and even better, but they absent from work because
of: their illness, experiencing fatigue and insomnia, pain in
hands, legs, joints and muscles. They receive hospital treatment
because of the insufficient control on their treatment and the
advanced diabetes complications. The application of the Osterhaus
method establishes that type 2 diabetes is connected with the
excess illness-related work loss and with more often “medically
related absences”. These do not lead to significant indirect productivity
costs because these patients are with lower income. The cumulative
costs from the sporadic work loss during their whole life are
even greater, because of the increased spread of the disease,
suboptimum treatment, and many complications and prolonged life
duration thanks to the contemporary medicine.
Keywords:
Diabetes Mellitus,
Type 2. Quality of Life. Sick Leave. Efficiency. Bulgaria.
