Quality of life assessment among Cystic Fibrosis patients in Palestine:
Cross Sectional Study
Abstract
Objective: To assess the quality of life (QoL) of Cystic fibrosis (CF)
patients in West Bank, Palestine using the Cystic Fibrosis
Questionnaire-Revised (CFQ-R) form. Method: A cross-sectional study
involving application of CFQ-R questionnaire in CF patients attending
pediatric pulmonology clinic at Caritas Baby Hospital (CBH). Their
health status was assessed by measuring different parameters including
pulmonary function test (FEV1) and body mass index (BMI). Results: The
sample consisted of 77 patients from 58 families: 46.75% were males.
Mean age was 10.7 years. Patients were divided into three groups by age
in years: group I (< 6), II (6-13), and III (≥ 14). The
highest and lowest CFQ scores were for the eat domain in group III
(55.56 ± 22.49) and the body domain in group II (14.48 ± 17.67),
respectively. Illness severity as measured by FEV1 mean value 69.6. BMI
mean value of 15.998. The overall mean age at time of diagnosis in our
sample was 4.16 years (± 6.239). The study showed that 1.7% of families
had four affected siblings and 21% had death cases related to CF.
Finally, all parameters for CF patients in West Bank, Palestine appear
to be noticeably lower than those reported in other countries.
Conclusions: quality of life for patients with CF is poor relative to
international standards, the medications used including hypertonic
saline and Gentamycin IV form used as nebulizer solution are not first
line therapies around the world. This study illustrates the need of new
therapies for CF patients in Palestine.