Health-related quality of life is associated with stroke deficits in older adults

Abstract

Background/objectives: although the functional impairments of stroke survivors are associated with poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL), few studies have demonstrated the impact of individual stroke deficits on the quality of life of survivors. In this study, we investigated the association between HRQoL and stroke-related deficits, especially with respect to the number and types of deficits, in older adults.

Methods: the data were obtained from the 2008 and 2009 Korean Community Health Survey. The EuroQoL 5 Dimension (EQ-5D) questionnaire used as the HRQoL index, and stroke-related information included the number of stroke deficits and five types of deficits.

Results: of the 122,095 participants, 6,698 (5.5%) subjects had a history of stroke, of whom 2,222 patients (33.2%) reported one or more stroke-related deficits. After adjustments for potential variables, the EQ-5D scores of the stroke survivors with persisting deficits were significantly reduced as the number of stroke deficits increased (β = -0.080, -0.147, -0.229, -0.252 and -0.293 for one, two, three, four and five deficits, respectively). The type of stroke deficits was associated with the level of HRQoL. Specifically, the adjusted EQ-5D score of patients who suffered from hemiplegia (β = -0.143; P value < .00001) was worse than that of patients with any stroke deficits. The most frequent problems were related to mobility and pain/discomfort, regardless of the number or type of stroke deficits.

Conclusion: we found that impaired HRQoL was significantly associated with the number and type of stroke deficits in older adults with a history of stroke.

Keywords: community health survey; older people; quality of life; stroke deficits.