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Abstract:
Background:The impact of a disease on a patient is an increasing important outcome measure in medicine and healthcare. Issues such as quality of life are now widely used in clinical trials and in patient management for assessing morbidity and impact of treatment especially for debilitating illness like stroke.
Aim: The current study comprehensively determined potential correlates and possible predictors of poor health-related quality of life of stroke survivors in a tertiary hospital in Lagos, Nigeria.
Method: Participants consisted of one hundred and twelve patients at the neurology outpatient department who previously had experienced stroke(s) confirmed by neuro-imaging at the acute period of the stroke. Health-related quality of life was assessed using the Health-related quality of life in stroke patient measure, stroke severity was measured using the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale, disability with modified rankin scale, cognitive assessment done using the Mini Mental State Examination, depression was diagnosed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatry Interview .Other variables were collected using socio-demography questionnaire and case file.
Results: The mean of health-related quality of life score was 49.33 +-12.55. Participants had lower mean in the physical sphere compared to the spiritual sphere. Consistently, age, stroke severity, depression, levels of disability, employment status and cognitive impairment correlated significantly with most domains. However, the independent predictors of poor health-related quality of life were depression, younger age, unemployment and stroke severity in the physical sphere compared to the spiritual sphere that had depression and cognitive functions.
Conclusion: Health-related quality of life is lower among stroke survivors, strategic interventions that target depression, stroke severity, cognitive functions and unemployment after recovery should be done to improve stroke survivor's outcome.
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