Health-related quality of life in women referred for bone density assessment: relationships with bone mineral density, fracture and co-morbidity

Food hypersensitivity (FHS) refers to food-related symptoms, with or without concurrent Immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies related to food(s). It remains unclear how different FHS phenotypes affect health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We examined self-reported HRQoL (with the generic instrument EQ-5D (dimensions and a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), range 0–100) in association with phenotypes of FHS, and food-specific symptoms among adolescents (n = 2990) from a population-based birth cohort. Overall, 22% of the adolescents had FHS. Compared to adolescents without FHS, those with FHS reported more problems in the dimensions of pain/discomfort (p < 0.001), and anxiety/depression (p = 0.007). Females with FHS reported more problems than males in these dimensions (p < 0.001). Different FHS phenotypes (IgE-sensitization, allergic co-morbidity, and severity of symptoms) were not associated with differences in HRQoL. EQ-VAS scores were lowest for adolescents with symptoms for wheat vs. no wheat, median 80 vs. 89, p = 0.04) and milk vs. no milk (median 85 vs. 90, p = 0.03). Physician-diagnosed lactose intolerance median EQ-VAS was 80 vs. 90, p = 0.03 and also associated with more problems in the dimension of anxious/depression. In conclusion, FHS is associated with lower HRQoL in adolescence, irrespective of phenotypes, but differentially affects females vs. males, and those with vs. without symptoms for milk or wheat.

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Health-Related Quality of Life Among Admitted HIV/AIDS Patients in Selected Ethiopian Tertiary Care Settings: A Cross-Sectional Study

The Open Public Health Journal ◽

10.2174/1874944501912010532 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 532-540 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Getandale Zeleke Negera ◽

Teshale Ayele Mega

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Tertiary Care ◽

P Value ◽

Health Related Quality ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Co Morbidity ◽

Related Quality ◽

Health Related ◽

Hiv Aids

Background: The introduction of Combined Antiretroviral Therapy (cART) shifted the perception of HIV/AIDS from a fatal to a potentially manageable chronic disease. As a result, patient-perceived health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is becoming an important outcome measure among HIV infected patients. We assessed the quality of life of admitted HIV/AIDS patients and the association of socio-demographic, clinical, and psychosocial characteristics of patients with health-related quality of life. Methods: Health facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 1 to May 31, 2018 in selected tertiary care hospitals of Ethiopia. HRQoL was measured at discharge using the interviewer-administered World Health Organization’s Quality of Life HIV short-form instrument (WHOQoL-HIV BREF). Data were entered into EpiData 3.2 and exported to SPSS version 21.0 for cleaning and analysis. Descriptive analytical results were reported in text and table. Logistic regression was conducted to identify predictors of poor quality of life. Variables with p-value ≤ 0.25 in bivariate regression were considered as a candidate for multivariable regression. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify independent predictors. Regression coefficients and their 95% confidence intervals together with p-value < 0.05 were used to identify independent predictor of poor QoL. Results: Majority, 56 (58.9%) of the study participants, had poor general health-related quality of life. Being unemployed (AOR: 4.1, 95% CI; (1.23, 13.64); p=0.02), lack of support from family (AOR: 3.6, 95% CI: (1.05-12.6); p=0.04), and having co-morbidity (AOR: 4.2, 95% CI: (1.08, 16.65); p=0.039) were found to be independent predictors of poor quality of life. Conclusions: The study showed that the majority of the participants had poor health-related quality of life which was affected by unemployment, co-morbidity, and social support from family.

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