Evaluation of the quality of life and sociodemographic features of
patients with muscular dystrophies
Abstract
Objective: Muscular dystrophies refers to a group of primary inherited
myopathies that exhibit a chronic and unremitting progressive course.
Quality of life is a concept, which mainly reflects individual responses
given by a person to the physical, psychological, social and
environmental impacts of the disease. In this study we aimed to evaluate
quality of life and sociodemographic features of 146 patients who
presented to the physical therapy and rehabilitation neuromuscular
diseases outpatient clinic of our hospital. Methods: Patients’
sociodemographic data including gender, marital status and educational
level were recorded and analyzed. WHOQOL-BREF survey was performed in
order to determine quality of life in patients with muscular dystrophy.
The scores obtained from the survey were transformed into WHOQOL 4-20
and WHOQOL 0-100 score ranges, and relationships between the
sociodemographic data of the patients and WHOQOL-BRIEF survey results
were evaluated. Results: Eighty-five (58.2%) patients were male and 61
(41.8%) were female. No statistically significant difference was found
between the male and female MD patients in terms of the physical,
psychological, social relationships and environmental domains of
WHOQOL-BREF scale (for all p>0.05). No significant
difference was found between single, married, divorced and widowed
patients (for all p>0.05). There were significant
differences between educational levels of the patients in terms of the
mean WHOQOL-BREF scores (p<0.05). The mean scores increased as
educational levels increased. Conclusion: Quality of life increases with
the levels of education and does not differ according to gender and
marital status in patients with muscular dystrophy. Patients with
muscular dystrophy should be encouraged for education from the pediatric
period.