With the aim of improving personalized treatment of patients on chemotherapy, the objective of the study was to assess the degree of association between selected Quality of life (QoL) indicators and ...both clinical and imaging cardiac status indicators when detecting deterioration in QoL of these patients.
In a cohort clinical study in Hamburg, from August 2017 through October 2020, 59 cancer patients, aged 18-80 years, were evaluated before chemotherapy, and at several follow-ups, using EQ-5D and SF-36 QoL questionnaires, fast strain-encoded (fast-SENC) cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), conventional CMR, and echocardiography, and further received a clinical and biomarker examination. Data was analyzed using survival analyses. A decline of more than 5% in each observed QoL metric value was defined as the observed event. Patient were separated into groups according to the presentation of cardiotoxicity as per its clinical definition, the establishment of the indication for cardioprotective therapy initiation, and by a worsening in the value of each observed imaging metric by more than 5% in the previous follow-up compared to the corresponding pre-chemotherapy baseline value.
Among clinical cardiac status indicators, the indication for cardioprotective therapy showed statistically good association with QoL scores (EQ-5D p=0.028; SF-36 physical component p=0.016; SF-36 mental component p=0.012). In terms of imaging metrics, the MyoHealth segmental myocardial strain score was the only one demonstrating consistently good QoL score association (EQ-5D p=0.005; SF-36 physical component p=0.056; SF-36 mental component p=0.002).
Established fast-SENC CMR scores are capable of highlighting patients with reduced QoL, who require more frequent/optimal management.
The objective of this study was to assess pre-treatment quality of life and the relevant clinical variables in adult patients with malocclusion in order to improve orthodontic treatment strategies.
...The study was conducted in 240 consecutive adult patients with malocclusions divided into two groups: patients for whom an orthodontic treatment plan was considered, and patients for whom an orthognathic treatment plan was selected. Patients were examined between December 2015 and February 2017, at the School of Dental Medicine, University of Belgrade. Malocclusion severity was recorded using the Peer Assessment Rating index pre-treatment score. Skeletal malocclusion parameters were measured using lateral cephalometric radiographs. Quality of life was assessed by means of a generic questionnaire (Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36)), and the disease-specific Orthognathic Quality of Life Questionnaire (OQLQ).
There were significant differences in the mean values of the OQLQ domain scores between orthodontic and orthognathic patients. Patients for whom orthodontic treatment was planned had statistically significantly lower scores in comparison to those for whom orthognathic treatment was planned. This was the case in all OQLQ domains except for "Awareness of facial deformity". Statistically significant correlations (p<0.05) were presented between OQLQ scores and following demographic and clinical variables: gender, age, malocclusion severity, maxillary and mandibular sagittal, maxillary vertical, and lower incisor positions, intermaxillary angle, and the Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory levels. The independent predictors for the planning of orthodontic and orthognathic treatment in patients with malocclusion were two OQLQ domains, "Facial aesthetics" and "Awareness of facial deformity", as well as total OQLQ score, after adjustment for demographic characteristics, skeletal parameters, anxiety and depression.
Our findings suggest that patients for whom orthodontic treatment was planned demonstrated better quality of life according to the OQLQ scores in comparison to those for whom orthognathic therapy was planned.
In a cross-sectional cohort study, health-related quality of life of Slovenian children and adolescents with cerebral palsy was examined, and factors associated with it have been identified.
...Caregivers of 122 children and adolescents with cerebral palsy were addressed to fill out proxy versions of HRQoL questionnaires (DISABKIDS generic and cerebral palsy module). Children and adolescents without cognitive deficit were asked to fill out the self-report versions.
Ninety-one families of 43 children (the mean age is 10 years, 6 months, SD 1.2; 26 males and 17 females) and 48 adolescents (the mean age is 14 years, SD 0.9; 23 males and 25 females) completed proxyreports. Forty-eight individuals were able to self-report (26 children and 22 adolescents). Health-related quality of life was perceived as good. Self-reporting participants scored higher than their caregivers (mean score 75.6, SD 15.9 versus mean 72.3, SD 17.9; p=0.048). Adolescents scored lower than children in all domains (mean score 69.4, SD 19.4 versus mean 80.8, SD 10.0; p=0.01). Higher age (p<0.001), pain (p<0.001) and disturbed sleep (p=0.002) were strong predictors of worse health-related quality of life. Social Inclusion and Independence domains received the lowest scores.
Slovenian children and adolescents with cerebral palsy have a good health-related quality of life, with Social Inclusion and Independence being the weakest domains. Children reported higher scores than adolescents or their caretakers. Pain was the strongest predictor of poor health-related quality of life.
There is a gap in our knowledge of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a population presumed healthy, so this study aimed to assess the associations between HRQoL, demographics and clinical ...variables.
The participants were attendees, presumed healthy, at 40 pre-selected model family medicine practices (MFMPs), aged between 30 and 65 years and recruited during a preventive check-up in 2019. Each MFMP pragmatically invited 30 attendees to voluntarily participate. The EQ-5D questionnaire was administered as a measure of HRQoL; the independent variables were demographic characteristics, smoking, alcohol consumption, stress perception, physical activity, signs of depression, cardiovascular risk, body mass index, blood pressure values, and blood sugar and lipidogram laboratory test values. Ordinal logistic regression was used to calculate associations between self-assessed quality of life, demographics, and clinical variables, with P<0.05 set as statistically significant.
Of 986 participants, 640 (64.9%) were women and 346 (35.1%) men, aged 42.7±8.6 years. The average values for the EQ-5D-3L were 0.91±0.15. In the multivariate model, a positive association between adequate physical activity (p=0.003), and a negative association between higher age (p<0.001), female gender (p=0.009), signs of depression (p<0.001), stress (p=0.013), and EQ-5D score were identified.
Given that physical activity was shown to be positively associated with HRQoL, it is of the utmost importance for family physicians to motivate their middle-aged patients, especially women and those with signs of depression and excessive stress, to adopt a more rigorously physically active lifestyle.
Dentofacial disorders may potentially significantly affect the quality of life. Objectives of this study were to validate translated and culturally adapted Orthognatic Quality of Life Questionnaire ...(OQLQ) on a cohort of Serbian patients with malocclusions.
The questionnaire was validated in 111 consecutive patients with malocclusions, seen between December 2014 and February 2015 at the Clinic of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dental Medicine, University of Belgrade. Clinical validity was assessed comparing the mean scores for the four subscales of the OQLQ and mean PAR pre-treatment score. In order to assess whether the allocation of items in the subscales corresponds to their distribution in the original questionnaire, an exploratory factor analysis (principal component analysis with varimax rotation) was conducted.
The results of the internal consistency analysis demonstrated good relationships between the items; Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the four subscales were highly significant (p<0.001) (0.88-0.91). All items were significantly correlated between baseline and the retest (6 weeks after). The correlations between the PAR and all four domains of the OQLQ were all significant (p<0.01). The loading weights obtained in the exploratory factor analysis showed that this model revealed four factors with eigenvalue greater than 1, explaining the 64.0% of the cumulative variance. The majority of the items (86.4%) in the Serbian version of the OQLQ presented the highest loading weight in the subscales assigned by the OQLQ developer.
The psychometric properties of the OQLQ (Serbian version) have exceptional internal consistency and reproducibility as an instrument for evaluation of dental malocclusions. Additionally, this questionnaire may be useful as a supplementary outcome measure in persons with malocclusions.
The objective of the study was to analyse and compare the subjective quality of life (S-QoL) of women with physical disabilities (PDs) through satisfaction with the quality of life domains and the ...overall quality of life assessment.
The sample comprised of women with PDs (n=137), divided into 4 age categories: 19-29 yrs. (n=53); 30-44 yrs. (n=25); 45-59 yrs. (n=24) and over 60 yrs. (n=35). The Subjective Quality of Life Analyses questionnaire and the WHO User Manual were used as a primary research method. The Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was used to assess the differences between QoLDs, Kruskal Wallis test to assess differences in S-QoL among four independent groups and Mann Whitney U-test between two age categories.
The highest satisfaction in all age categories of women was found in the social relations domain, and in the 19-29 yr-old women equally in the social relations and physical health domains. The highest dissatisfaction was reported with the psychological health and environment domains. The key finding is that the main differences are between the youngest category (aged 19-29 yrs) and the three older categories with regard to physical health, environment and overall QoL.
It is necessary to continue this line of research with a greater focus on exploring the ways in which the psychological health domain can be improved as an integral part of S-QoL, and to also focus on the QoL indicators that make up the environment domain and search for ways to enhance these.
The loss of quality of life is the major consequence following a non-fatal road traffic accident (RTA). Previous research regarding quality of life did not include uninjured RTA survivors. The ...research aim was thus to evaluate the quality of life of the RTA survivors regardless of whether or not they sustained injures, and to identify factors associated with decreased quality of life after the RTA.
A cohort of 200 RTA survivors with and without injuries was followed after experiencing an RTA. The quality of life and mental health outcomes were assessed 1 month following RTA. A vast range of sociodemographic, pre-RTA health-related, RTA related, RTA injury-related, compensation-related factors and mental health outcomes were investigated.
Decreased quality of life following an RTA showed an association with the low socioeconomic status of the RTA victims, poor pre-RTA health, injury-related factors, compensation-related factors and psychological disorders after the RTA.
Identifying predictors of decreased quality of life following an RTA will enable planning interventions targeting the most important factors that influence recovery of RTA victims. Assessing and recording of self-reported quality of life should be a part of the routine protocol in RTA survivors' health-care.
Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is measuring a patient's experience of his health status and represents an outcome of medical interventions. Existing data proves that a healthy lifestyle is ...positively associated with HRQoL in all age groups. Patients with a high risk for cardiovascular disease typically led an unhealthy lifestyle combined with risk diseases. We aimed to analyse these characteristics and their reflection in HRQoL.
A cross-sectional study in 36 family practices, stratified by location and size. Each practice invited 30 high-risk patients from the register. Data were obtained from medical records and patient questionnaire. The EQ-5D questionnaire and the VAS scale were used for measuring the patient's HRQoL as an independent variable.
871 patients (80.6% response rate) were included in the analysis. 60.0% had 3-4 uncontrolled risk factors for CVD. The average VAS scale was 63.2 (SD 19.4). The correlation of EQ-5D was found in the number of visits in the practice (r=-0.31, p<0.001), the socioeconomic status (r=-0.25, p=0.001), age (r=-0.27, p=0.001) and healthy diet (r=0.20, p=0.006). In a multivariate model, only physical activity among lifestyle characteristics was an independent predictor of HRQoL (p=0.001, t=3.3), along with the frequency of visits (p<0.001, t=-5.3) and age (p=0.025, t=-2.2).
This study has been performed on a specific group of patients, not being "really sick", but having less optimal lifestyle in many cases. Encouragement to improve or keep healthy lifestyle, especially physical activity, is important, not only to lower the risk for CVD, but also to improve HRQoL.
Abstract
Objectives
Studying the quality of life of people with a spinal cord injury is of great importance as it allows the monitoring of both functioning and adaptation to disability. The aim of ...this study was to determine the difference between persons with a spinal cord injury involved in sports activities and those not involved in sports activities in relation to their quality of life and the presence of secondary health conditions (pressure ulcers, urinary infections, muscle spasms, osteoporosis, pain, kidney problems-infections, calculosis and poor circulation).
Methods
The study included a total of 44 participants with spinal cord injury-paraplegia of both genders; 26 of them were athletes and 18 were not athletes. The athletes were training actively for the last two years, minimally 2-3 times per week. A specially designed questionnaire, medical documentation and the Spinal Cord Injury Quality of Life Questionnaire (SCI QL-23) were used for research purposes. Chi-square test was used to analyze the differences between the groups, while multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to determine the differences between the sets of variables.
Results
Among the participants, the athletes perceived higher quality of life than the non-athletes (male gender p<0.001 and female gender p<0.05). Regarding secondary health conditions, the athletes reported the presence of less pain (p=0.034) and a subjective feeling of better circulation (p=0.023).
Conclusion
The implementation of sports activities significantly improves quality of life in the population of people with spinal cord injury-paraplegia. However, sports activities only partially affect secondary health conditions.
Članek obravnava tematiko zdravja v izobraževanju odraslih. Izhodišče razprave je sodobno pojmovanje zdravja, ki se uveljavlja v družbenih vedah in se razume kot fizična, psihosocialna in duhovna ...dobrobit. Poudarjena je tudi misel, da je zdravje proces in da zdravstveno stanje določajo tako subjektivni kot okoljski dejavniki. To odpira vrata teoriji salutogeneze, povezani s prepričanjem, da je zdravje mogoče izboljšati s pomočjo zdravstvene vzgoje in promocije zdravja. Koncept okoljskih in socio-kulturnih dejavnikov, ki odločajo o zdravju in vprašanja, ki se nanašajo na z zdravjem povezani vidik kakovosti življenja, so tudi uporabljeni kot referenčni okvir in teoretska podlaga za to pedagoško razpravo o zdravju kot predmetu izobraževanja odraslih.
PDF
