EFFECTIVENESS OF DIABETES DIETARY COUNSELING ON QUALITY OF LIFE IN TYPE 2 DIABETIC PATIENTS

Diabetes is one of the chronic diseases need continual medical care and self care education, and nutritional therapy account as an integral part of dietary management. This study carried out to investigate the effect of diabetes dietary counseling on quality of life in type II diabetic patients. As a Randomized Clinical Trial, 144 patients with type II diabetes aged 35-65 years were recruited from patients referred to Imam Hossein Hospital dietary clinic and randomly assigned in case and control groups. A dietary schedule consisting 50-60% carbohydrate, 10-20% protein and less than 30% fat was prescribed at the first orally in a 30-minute counseling session then in written form for case group, while the control group was left without any intervention. The quality of life score was estimated in both groups via using the Short-form 36-Item (SF-36), before dietary counseling and one mouth after the dietary counseling, and the quality of life score between both groups were compared. The data were analyzed using SPSS software. Average age was 52.1±10 years. Before dietary counseling, the quality of life among 46% of subjects was assessed to be poor and 52% claimed their health status poorer than the last year. Independent-Samples T-Test with P<0.05 revealed significant difference in weight, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, blood sugar before and after breakfast, blood cholesterol and triglyceride, after dietary counseling in both groups. Also, this test with P<0.05 revealed significant difference in the quality of life score in general and in each dimensions, after dietary counseling in both groups. Paired-Samples T-Test revealed significant increase in the quality of life score in general and in each dimensions on pre and post dietary counseling in case group, but didn’t observe in control group. According to the results, it was revealed that dietary counseling can promote the quality of life in patients with type II diabetes in all dimensions. So, it seems dietary counseling program is essential in prevention and decrease of type II diabetes complications.