The quality of life of long-term stroke patients and related factors / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the quality of life(QOL)of patients with stroke and its related factors.Methods The QOL of eighty-two stroke survivors was assessed in terms of SF-36 scores,motor impairment (Fugl-Meyer),disability[Barthel index(BI)]and depression(HAMD)more than one year after their first episode.Their social demographic characteristics such as age,gender,education and income were recorded,as were the characteristics of their disease and any complications.Multiple regression analysis was used to analyse the related factors.Results The average age of the 82 subjects was 61.89 + 9.81 years(range,33-81).56 of them were male (68.2％).Scores on all items of the SF-36 for these subjects were lower than those of a normal population.Correlation analysis showed income,cost for medical care,regular exercise,movement function,ability in the activities of daily living,depression,hypertension and shoulder pain were significantly correlated with most of the SF-36 domain scores.Motor function,income and cost for medical care explained 34％ of the variance in SF-36 scores.Motor function was the single most important factor.Conclusion The major factors affecting the QOL of stroke patients are motor function,level of income and cost for medical care.Paying more attention to rehabilitation treatment,taking regular exercise and more income could help improve the QOL of stroke survivors.