Relationship between the cost of illness and quality of life among adolescents with type 1 diabetes—a mixed method study

Abstract Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is a major problem worldwide that affects the quality of life, well-being of patients and their families. This study aimed to determine the relationship between the cost of illness and quality of life among patients with T1DM. A concurrent, parallel, mixed-method study of 113 adolescents with T1DM registered in public and private hospitals in the Mysore district was conducted by obtaining data related to the cost of illness and quality of life using a validated Diabetes-Specific Quality of Life (DSQoL) questionnaire. Thematic analysis was used to identify the themes. There was a significant association amonghealth insurance status, treatment facility type, catastrophic health expenditure (CHE), and cost of illness. The CHE proportion was32.7%. Financial sources for treatment were met primarily by borrowing money with interest (58 patients, 51.3%), followed by individualincome (40 patients, 35.3%), contributions from friends and relatives (10 patients, 8.8%), and selling of assets (5 patients, 4.4%). The monthly health expenditures of approximately 22 (19.46%) households were greater than their monthly incomes. There was a positive correlation (rvalue of 0.979) between the cost of treatment and the DSQoL score, and this correlation was statistically significant, with a p value