Abstract:
Background: Non communicable diseases are now 21st centenary major health and
development challenges, where their long-term impairment and disability result the negative
impact on quality of life on the other hand has negative impact on the society, economic and
the environment. The inadequate management of these diseases leads to the negative effect on
the sustainability of development at both the country and global level. The several studies
concluded that people diagnosed with hypertension and diabetes their quality of life were
lower compared to general population. The population of Rwanda is now characterized by
increasing life expectancy and westernization, hypertension and diabetes has now changed
from a relative rarity to a major problem as a result and account not little number of morbidity
and premature mortality.
The Purpose of the study: were designed to assess the quality of life (QOL) in the patients
with hypertension and diabetic as chronic non communicable diseases (NCDs).
Methods: The study was quantitative non experimental, descriptive cross-sectional. The total
number of participants was 160 patients diagnosed with hypertension and diabetes, who were
followed in the outpatient clinic of Kigali university teaching hospital and Rwanda military
hospital from March to May, 2017. The quality of life was measured by using World Health
Organization Quality Of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire self administration. Bivariate
and backward multiple linear regression analysis conducted to determine the association
between QOL of study population and socio- demographic variables. Data was analyzed by
using SPSS version 20.
Results: the majority respondents’ score indicate a relatively moderate quality of life, lower
quality of life in physical domain and good in social domain. The study showed statistically
significant difference of Age (p<0.05) in all QoL domains and education level (p< 0.05) and
quality of life.
Conclusion: poor quality of life was associated with ageing, lower education status. The
appropriate strategies need to be implemented in order to prevent the growth of these noncommunicable
diseases due to their impact on quality of life and to improve the quality of life
for the patients.
