Assessment of quality of life in relation to spasticity severity and socio-demographic and clinical factors among patients with spinal cord injury. (3rd March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Vural, Meltem; Yalcinkaya, Ebru Yilmaz; Celik, Evrim Coskun; Gunduz, Berrin; Bozan, Ahmet; Erhan, Belgin
• Is Part Of: Journal of spinal cord medicine. Volume 43:Number 2(2020:Mar.)
• Page Start: 193
• Page End: 200
• Publication Date: 2020-03-03
• Subjects: Spinal cord injury -- Spasticity -- Quality of life -- Modified Ashworth Scale; Spinal cord -- Wounds and injuries -- Periodicals; Spinal cord -- Diseases -- Periodicals; 616.8305
• DOI: 10.1080/10790268.2018.1543093
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1079-0268

Abstract

Abstract : Objective: To assess the impact of spasticity severity as well as socio-demographic and clinical factors on quality of life (QOL) and to identify factors predicting poor QOL among patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study. Setting: Tertiary care clinic in Istanbul, Turkey. Participants: A total of 110 patients with SCI (mean (SD) age: 43.8 (14.7) years, 58.2% were males) were enrolled. Assessments: The American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale (AIS), Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) and Turkish version of the World Health Organization Quality of life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) were utilized to determine the SCI category, severity of spasticity and QOL scores, respectively. Outcome measures: The WHOQOL-BREF scores were evaluated with respect to the severity of spasticity, aetiology and duration of SCI, AIS category and method of bladder management. Results: The mean (SD) physical health (41.9 (15.3) vs. 46.5 (10.9), P = 0.029), social relationships (45.6 (20.2) vs. 53.8 (17.3), P = 0.025) and total WHOQOL-BREF scores were significantly lower in patients with more severe spasticity. Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that severity of spasticity was a significant predictor of decreased WHOQOL-BREF total scores, physical domain scores and social relations domain scores by 11.381 (P = 0.007), 11.518 (P = 0.005) and 17. 965 (P = 0.004), respectively. Conclusion: In conclusion, addressing QOL in relation to severity of spasticity for the first time among Turkish SCI patients, our findings revealed a negative impact of the spasticity severity on the WHOQOL-BREF scores, particularly for physical health and social relationship domains.