Factors associated with health-related quality of life of south indian population with chronic venous leg ulcers - A hospital based pilot study

Abstract

Objective: Venous leg ulcers (VLU) are chronic, recurrent and have a significant impact on the patients' health- related quality of life (HRQoL). This study assessed the association of patient-specific factors on the HRQoL of patients with chronic venous leg ulcers.

Materials and methods: The study included 21 males and 21 females aged 18 years and above, with chronic VLU. Data on demographics, education, occupation, per capita income, duration of ulcer were subjectively recorded. The socio-economic status was scored based on the Modified Kuppuswamy scale 2019, ulcer severity was assessed using M.A.I.D. Scale and the HRQoL of the patients were assessed using the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey Version 1.0. The differences in the mean HRQoL scores between patients based on their gender and socio-economic class were assessed using an unpaired sample t-test. The association of age, severity, duration of the ulcer with the HRQoL were assessed using Pearson's correlation. A probability value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: There were 21 (50%) males and 21 (50%) females with a mean age of 55.45 ± 7.73 years. The mean duration of ulcers was 7.26 ± 3.34 months and the mean ulcer severity score was 2.16 ± 0.96. Role limitations due to the physical health were found to be most impacted due to the disease condition with the least mean score of 26.78 ± 31.90 %. There were no significant differences in the mean scores of the physical and the mental components of HRQoL based on gender but there were significant differences based on socio-economic status. The lower the socio-economic status, the poorer the HRQoL. Age, severity of ulcers and ulcer duration had a significant negative correlation with HRQoL.

Conclusion: The study observed a low HRQoL of patients in physical aspects reflecting on the extensive limitation on the performance of daily physical activities. Patient-specific factors such as age, socio-economic status, severity, and chronicity of ulcers were found to influence HRQoL.

Keywords: Chronicity; Health-related quality of life; Severity; Venous leg ulcers.