title: Quality of life after mitral valve repair.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Mitral valve repair for degenerative and ischemic mitral valve regurgitation has been shown to be a durable procedure. The study aim was to evaluate the quality of life of patients who had undergone mitral valve repair, and to compare it to that of an age- and gender-adjusted Finnish general population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Among 130 late survivors after mitral valve repair, 109 (83.8%) answered the RAND-36 Health Survey questionnaire; these patients form the basis of the present study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The Wilcoxon test showed significantly higher mental health (p = 0.04) and pain scores (p = 0.015) and a lower role functioning/physical score (p = 0.008) in the study group. The scores of the other RAND-36 Health Survey variables of the study group were similar to those of the age- and gender-adjusted general population. The mean total score for the study group was 512 (median 532, IQR 360-678), compared to 522 (median 538, IQR 468-549) in the general population (p = 0.72) (only 95 patients were included in the analysis due to isolated missing scores).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The quality of life of long-term survivors after mitral valve repair, as assessed by the RAND-36 Health Survey, is similar to that of an age- and gender-adjusted general Finnish population.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: Jouni
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Heikkinen
authors.forename: Fausto
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Biancari
authors.forename: Jari
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Satta
authors.forename: Esa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Salmela
authors.forename: Tatu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Juvonen
authors.forename: Martti
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lepojärvi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008943:Mitral Valve / Q000601:surgery*; D008944:Mitral Valve Insufficiency / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012086:Reoperation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015996:Survival Rate