Quality of life assessment in patients with inguinal hernia.
BACKGROUND
The natural history of untreated inguinal hernia (IH) is poorly understood. Whether a delay in operative repair of IH leads to excessive physical suffering or significant psychosocial impairment is not known. This study attempts to quantify the morbidity of patients with IH by assessing their quality of life (QOL) while on a waiting list for IH surgery.


METHODS
QOL was measured in adult patients with IH who were on the waiting list using a standardized SF-36 questionnaire. Scores were compared with a sample of age-, sex- and comorbidity-matched controls.


RESULTS
A total of 143 patients were identified, of which 106 were included in the study. Patients with IH had significantly impaired QOL compared with comorbidity- and demographic-matched controls across all of the domains measured. Subgroup analysis showed an inverse relationship between the size of the IH and the QOL and patients employed in manual work tended to have lower QOL compared with those with sedentary vocations.


CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, we showed that the SF-36 score is a good measure of QOL in this patient group. Those patients on the elective waiting list for repair of IH have a significantly impaired QOL compared with age-, sex- and comorbidity-matched controls.
Mathur
Sachin
S
Department of Surgery, Whangarei Base Hospital, Northland, New Zealand. sachinmathur60@gmail.com
Bartlett
Adam St J R
AS
Gilkison
William
W
Krishna
Govind
G
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006552:Hernia, Inguinal / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D013997:Time Factors; D014850:Waiting Lists