The aim of this study was to evaluate the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in elderly persons with disabilities living in the community using the SF-8TM. Their subjective HRQOL is one of the ...most important outcome measures for rehabilitation medicine. However, it is difficult to evaluate HRQOL in elderly people who have many chronic diseases and disorders. The SF-8TM was developed as a short version of the SF-36TM to lessen the burden on the respondents. The SF-8TM was administered to seven patients with SMON (average age 78.0 years, range 69 to 84 years ; 5 women) suffering from peripheral neuropathy. The average length of illness was 39.8 years. Functional limitations in ADL was also assessed with the Barthel Index (BI). Their SF-8TM scores were significantly lower in all domains (p<0.05) in comparison with the age matched reference population, indicating their impaired HRQOL. Their physical satisfaction was low even if they had better ADL status (BI 90). In addition, the questionnaire response had no defect value. Feasibility of the SF-8TM measurement in SMON patients with disabilities was demonstrated. In conclusion, the SF-8TM is a useful instrument in the management of SMON patients. In future studies, the measure should be tested on a larger scale, and its longitudinal responsiveness also needs to be examined.
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