Health related quality of life in patients following stroke attending a teaching hospital in Sri Lanka- Preliminary study findings

Abstract

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Objectives: to determine the Health Related Quality of Life (HRQL) in patients following stroke attending a teaching hospital in Sri Lanka. Methods: a descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among 61 patients (3 months after stroke) who were attending clinics at Teaching Hospital, Karapitiya. HRQOL was evaluated using the proxy version of Stroke Aphasia Quality of Life generic (SAQOL-39g-Sinhala) scale. The categorization in the Kannada version of SAQOL-39 was followed to describe the level of overall and subdomain scores on QOL (score of 0-2 as severely, score of 3 as moderately, score of 4 as mildly affected QOL and score of 5 as normal QOL). The disability level of the patients were assessed using Modified Rankin Scale (MRS).

Results: The mean age of the patients with stroke was 65.26 (SD±12.83, range 33-81), of whom 67.2% were males. Eighty three percent had ischeamic strokes while rest had hemorrhagic strokes. The subdomains of physical, psychosocial and communication were 3.35, 3.46 and 3.56 respectively. Out of 61 patients 4.9%, 59% and 31.1%, patients had severely, moderately and mildly affected HRQOL respectively while only 4.9% had a normal HRQOL. The level of QOL was significantly associated with side of the lesion (p<0.05) and there was a significant correlation with the level of disability. QOL was not significantly associated with factors such as age, gender and type of stroke. Conclusions: majority of patients with stroke in the study had moderately impaired QOL. This needs to be taken into account when planning for rehabilitation.