scholarly journals The impact of the disease burden on the quality of life of cluster headache patients

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 251581632110299
Author(s):  
Heiko Pohl ◽  
Andreas R Gantenbein ◽  
Peter S Sandor ◽  
Jean Schoenen ◽  
Colette Andrée

Background: Cluster headache cannot be cured, and not all attacks can be aborted or prevented. Nevertheless, therapeutic guidelines focus solely on the attacks and ignore reverberations of the disorder on patients’ lives. However, it is likely that not only pain reduces patients’ quality of life (QoL). Objective: To investigate whether the interictal burden independently influence the QoL of subjects suffering from cluster headache. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we asked patients with a self-reported cluster headache diagnosis to answer a modified EUROLIGHT questionnaire that included the EURO-HIS QoL scale. We built a generalised linear model and included the QoL as the dependent variable. Independent variables comprised both the ictal and the interictal burden. Results: The data of 625 participants entered the analysis. Several aspects of the interictal burden independently reduced the QoL. Among them were fear of pain, self-concealment, and private life difficulties due to the disorder. Conclusion: Both the ictal and the interictal burden of cluster headache independently reduce patients’ QoL. We advocate adopting a more holistic approach to cluster headache management extending the focus towards the afflicted person and their QoL, which would generate novel therapeutic goals and strategies, complementary to treating and preventing cluster headache attacks.

2013 ◽  
Vol 70 (10) ◽  
pp. 935-939 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jelena Peric ◽  
Natasa Maksimovic ◽  
Janko Jankovic ◽  
Biljana Mijovic ◽  
Vesna Reljic ◽  
...  

Background/Aim. Acne is a common problem in adolescent children with considerable emotional and psychological effects. The aim of this study was to determine the self-reported prevalence of acne and to assess its impact on the quality of life in high school pupils in Serbia. Methods. The cross-sectional study was conducted in May 2011 in two medical high schools in Serbia. Only pupils who gave a written informed consent to participate in the study (n = 440) were asked to fill in two questionnaires: short demographic questionnaire and Cardiff Acne Disability Index (CADI), a disease-specific questionnaire measuring disability induced by acne. Internal consistency (tested by Cronbach?s alpha) and item-total score correlations (Spearman's correlation analysis) were used for reliability analyses. Results. The study population consisted of 440 pupils, 281 from Belgrade and 159 from Uzice. Among them 371 (84.3%) were girls and 69 (15.7%) boys, with similar sex distribution in Belgrade and Uzice. The total mean age of pupils was 16.48 years (SD = 0.55). Out of 440 pupils 228 (51.8%) self-reported their acne. The acne prevalence was significantly higher in pupils from Uzice (73.6%) than in those from Belgrade (39.6%). The overall mean CADI score for the whole sample was 2.87 ? 2.74, with the similar quality of life impairment in adolescents from Belgrade and from Uzice. The mean Cronbach?s alpha was 0.82. Conclusion. This study shows that the quality of life impairment due to acne is mild for the majority of the affected pupils. The Serbian version of the CADI is a reliable, valid, and valuable tool for assessing the impact of acne on the quality of life.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 264-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Ciminelli ◽  
Sergio Machado ◽  
Manoela Palmeira ◽  
Mauro Giovanni Carta ◽  
Sarah Cristina Beirith ◽  
...  

Background: Emotional stress is frequently associated with otologic symptoms as tinnitus and dizziness. Stress can contribute to the beginning or worsening of tinnitus. Objective: The objective of the study is to evaluate the presence of stress symptoms in patients with chronic, subjective tinnitus, and correlate its presence to annoyance associated with tinnitus. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. One hundred and eighty patients with chronic, subjective tinnitus were included. Patients answered the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) to evaluate the impact of tinnitus in the quality of life and answered the Lipp's inventory symptoms of stress for adults (ISSL). The data obtained was organized using Excel® 2010, mean values, linear regression and p-value were calculated. Results: Of the 180 patients included in the study, 117 (65%) had stress symptoms, 52 of the 117 (44%) were in the resistance phase and 23 of the 117 (20%) in the exhaustion phase, the remaining was in the alert phase. There was a clear progressive increase in stress as THI raised, with more impact of tinnitus in quality of life. Conclusion: The presence of stress symptoms, measured by ISSL was observed in most of our patients with chronic subjective tinnitus, specially in the resistance and exhaustion phases and it is directly associated with tinnitus annoyance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (34) ◽  
pp. 867-873
Author(s):  
Dhfer ALSHAYBAN ◽  
Royes JOSEPH

Diabetes is a common chronic disease that is considered as one of the fastest-growing health problems in the world. Adherence to medications could be an important factor in reducing these complications and improving the quality of life. The purpose of this research was to assess the impact of treatment adherence on health-related quality of life in patients with type 2 diabetes. A multicenter cross-sectional study was carried out among 368 diabetes patients. General Medication Adherence Scale was used to assess the adherence level and EuroQol-5D to assess the quality of life. The results show that 19%, 21%, and 23% of patients had maintained low medication adherence due to patient’s intentional or unintentional behavior due to additional diseases or pills burden and due to financial constraints, respectively. Overall, 43% (n=162) participants had maintained high medication adherence, and 37% (n=138) had maintained low medication adherence to antidiabetic drugs. Nearly one-third (31%) of patients with high overall adherence had perfect health state in comparison with 4% among patients with low adherence. Further, the lower proportion (21%) of patients with high overall adherence had perfect health state in comparison with that among patients with low adherence (34%). In addition to the overall adherence, the association was statistically significant for the domains related to non-adherence due to the patient’s intentional or unintentional behavior (p-value 0.001) and non-adherence due to additional diseases or pills burden (p-value 0.001) after taking into account of socio-demographic and clinical characteristics. In conclusion, the findings suggest that the policymakers should establish an intervention to improve adherence to diabetic treatment, and thus improve the quality of life for the type 2 diabetic patients.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Shivani Saini ◽  
◽  
Agarwal Shail ◽  
Jain Manish ◽  
Yadav Devendra ◽  
...  

Background: Dermatophytosis is a common fungal infection affecting 20-25% of the world population. Aims: Our study was aimed to assess its impact on health-related quality of life(QoL), mental health, and various variables. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was done from April 2019 to September 2019 on 174 patients of dermatophytosis of aged more than 16 years with their informed consent. The impact of infection on the quality of life was assessed by using the Dermatology life quality index questionnaire and General health questionnaire-12 was used to assess psychological impact. A visual analogue scale was used to assess the severity of pruritus. Appropriate statistical tests were applied. Results: Males to females ratio was 1.4:1. The age group of 21-30 was having the highest number of patients with the mean age of 27.8±9.97. Most patients had BSA under 10%. The mean value of DLQI and GHQ-12 were found 15.989±7.407 and 2.8563±2.8964, respectively. We found that dermatophytosis had a very large effect on the quality of life as the maximum number of patients(39%) were within this category. The “work and school” part in the questionnaire gained maximum importance(52.8%). The mean VAS score was 6±2.733 with most patients(32.7%) had moderate itching. We found a positive correlation between VAS and DLQI, VAS and GHQ-12, DLQI, and GHQ-12 with the statistical significance. Conclusion: In our study dermatophytosis affected the quality of life as well as the psychological health of patients. Therefore proper treatment of superficial dermatophtytosis is essential to prevent it from further complications


Medicina ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosellina Margherita Mancina ◽  
Raffaele Pagnotta ◽  
Caterina Pagliuso ◽  
Vincenzo Albi ◽  
Daniela Bruno ◽  
...  

Background and Objectives: Nursing management in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is focused on global patient care. Starting from basic knowledge of diagnostic and therapeutic management, nurses can assess the impact of IBD on patients’ quality of life not only at the physical level, but also at the psychological, social, and emotional levels. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of gastrointestinal symptoms on psychosocial changes in IBD patients in remission through nursing-led Patient-Reported Outcomes. Materials and Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of 109 IBD patients in clinical and endoscopic remission. Specialist nurses invited patients to complete questionnaires on gastrointestinal symptoms and quality of life through the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). Results: We found that the gastrointestinal symptoms that the patients reported had a significant impact on the analyzed aspects of health. More specifically, belly pain, diarrhea, and bloating were associated with depressive symptoms (p < 0.001), anxiety (p < 0.001), fatigue (p < 0.001), and sleep disturbances (p < 0.001). Moreover, these symptoms also significantly affected patients’ social dimension in terms of satisfaction with participation in social roles (p < 0.001, p < 0.05, and p < 0.001 for belly pain, diarrhea, and bloating, respectively) and physical functions (p < 0.001). The results were virtually the same in a multivariable analysis adjusted by age, gender, body mass index (BMI), and disease duration. Conclusions: Even during remission, gastrointestinal symptoms are the main factors that influence quality of life in IBD patients. This exploratory study highlights the need to adopt validated questionnaires in clinical practice, and demonstrates that PROMIS is a valid, objective, and standardized instrument that can help nursing staff to better define the consequences of the disease in a patient’s daily life.


2008 ◽  
Vol 139 (2_suppl) ◽  
pp. P82-P82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Venkat R Srinivasan ◽  
Christopher Low ◽  
Paul W A Goodyear ◽  
Steve Derbyshire ◽  
Aneesh Veetil

Objective To assess whether radiofrequency volumetric tissue reduction of the palate can improve patients’ snoring symptoms and quality of life. Methods A prospective cross-sectional study was undertaken. Over an 18-month period, consecutive habitual snorers without sleep apnoea were asked to complete a validated Snoring Symptoms Inventory (SSI) questionnaire before and 3–6 months after radiofrequency surgical treatment. It contained 25 questions on the impact of snoring symptoms, including social, work, physical and emotional aspects. Most patients underwent 2 operations (Somnoplasty® Somnus device) with a 2-month interval. A scale of 0 (no snoring) to 10(extremely loud snoring) was used to assess partners’ perception of the snoring intensity. Paired T-test was used to compare the mean difference in the SSI before and after surgery. Partners’ scores were analysed with Wilcoxon signed ranks test. Results 26 patients (19 male, 7 female) aged between 33 and 74 (mean=48) were recruited. Preoperative BMI scores ranged from 19 to 35 (mean=28). Pre- and postoperative mean SSI scores were 60.5 (SD 12.3) and 42.8 (SD 17.4). The difference between the 2 means is 17.6 (95% Confidence Interval, 11.0 to 24.2), P<0.0001. The median for pre- and postoperative partners’ scores is 10 and 5 respectively. and the difference is statistically significant (P<0.0001). Conclusions Radiofrequency volumetric tissue reduction can improve habitual snorers’ snoring symptoms, snoring-related quality of life, and partner's perception of their snoring. Long-term results of this procedure need to be ascertained with further studies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 46-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sônia Rodrigues Dutra ◽  
Henrique Pretti ◽  
Milene Torres Martins ◽  
Cristiane Baccin Bendo ◽  
Miriam Pimenta Vale

ABSTRACT Objective: The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to assess the impact of malocclusion on the quality of life of children aged 8 to 10 years attending public elementary schools in Belo Horizonte, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Methods: The Brazilian version of the Child Perceptions Questionnaire 8-10 (CPQ8-10) was used to evaluate oral health-related quality of life. The children were examined for the diagnosis of malocclusion using the Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI). The data were analyzed by bivariate and multivariate descriptive statistics using Poisson regression at a 5% significance level. A total of 270 children participated in the study. Results: Children with normal occlusion or mild malocclusion (DAI ≤ 25) were 56% less likely (95%CI: 0.258-0.758; p= 0.003) to have their quality of life affected compared with children diagnosed with extremely severe malocclusion (DAI ≥ 36). Children with a maxillary anterior overjet ≥ 3 mm had higher CPQ8-10 mean scores (19.4; SD = 17.1) than those with an overjet < 3 mm (13.6; SD = 11.7; p= 0.038). Conclusions: Extremely severe malocclusion and pronounced maxillary anterior overjet were associated with a negative impact on quality of life.


2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Karine Grov ◽  
Berit Taraldsen Valeberg

AbstractObjective:Cancer affects both patients and their caregivers. Caregiver burden may change during different stages of the patients' cancer trajectory. Limited research has focused on the impact of being a caregiver, assessed by the caregiver's mental health and quality of life (QOL) during the curative and the palliative phases of the patient's disease. The aim of this study is to compare caregivers of cancer patients during the curative and a palliative phases with respect to their mental health and health-related QOL.Method:This descriptive, cross-sectional study combines data from two studies. The first group consists of caregivers of patients with cancer in the late palliative phase and the second group consists of caregivers of outpatients with cancer who suffer from pain and/or use analgesics. Data were collected by means of standardized measures and analyzed with descriptive statistics.Results:Based on this material, no significant differences in mental health and health- related QOL were revealed for caregivers of cancer patients in the palliative and the curative phases, respectively. Neither education level in the caregivers, nor the patients' functional status influenced caregivers' mental health or QOL. Younger caregivers seem to have better physical QOL.Significance of results:Being caregivers of cancer patients seems to have a similar pattern of impact on caregivers' mental health and quality of life regardless of the patient's disease stage. We share some reflections about the way in which the cancer stage is divided and the appropriateness of such selection for measuring caregivers' mental health and QOL. Additionally, we discuss the use of generic instruments for measuring specific contexts and particular samples.


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