Quality of life in war related bilateral lower limb amputees: results of a national project from Iran

ABSTRACT

To measure quality of life in bilateral lower limb amputees due to the Iran-Iraq war. A group consisting of 327 male [from all 576] war related bilateral lower limb amputees was surveyed. The 36-item short-form health survey [SF-36] questionnaire was used to measure quality of life. Socio-demographic data were collected by using another questionnaire. The average age of the amputees was 42.05 [std. D. 6.3] years. About 20% [n=63] had history of hospitalization during the preceding year of the study. Salary dissatisfaction was reported in Half of the patients5/50% [n=165]. The highest and lowest mean scores in the study population were found for social function [66.67 +/- 26.74] and bodily pain [47.97 +/- 24.02] respectively. The quality of life in the cases in all eight SF-36 domains including physical function, physical role limitation, bodily pain, mental health, role emotion, vitality, social function and general health were significantly lower than Iranian normal population. Smoking, unemployment, phantom pain, history of hospitalization, salary dissatisfaction were significantly accompany with lower quality of life. In regression analysis hospitalization and salary satisfaction played an important role on physical and mental component scales respectively. The findings revealed that the bilateral lower limb amputees suffer from a poor quality of life. This also indicates the need for additional rehabilitation and health services