Changing quality of life in hysterectomized women.
OBJECTIVE
Most women undergo a hysterectomy to relieve symptoms and improve their quality of life rather than to solve a life-threatening problem. We used hierarchical linear modeling to evaluate the changes, in a 6-8-week period, in the quality of life of women who had undergone hysterectomy.


METHODS
This was a prospective follow-up study of 64 women who had undergone hysterectomy and 68 controls of similar age and marital status. A quasi-experimental design was used. The World Health Organization Questionnaire on Quality of Life: BREF-Taiwan Version was used to assess quality of life before surgery, at discharge, and 2 and then 6-8 weeks after surgery. The control group was measured three times: after their initial hospital visit, and 2 and then 6-8 weeks later.


RESULTS
Women with hysterectomy (H-group) had significantly lower scores for the physical health dimension of quality of life at all time-points as compared with the control group, yet postoperatively, they showed a more dramatic increase in this dimension. As for the group mean trajectories, the vaginal hysterectomy (VH) subgroup had a relatively low quality of life immediately after surgery, which then gradually improved, especially in the dimension of physical health. As for the social relationships dimension, the abdominal hysterectomy (AH) subgroup showed an upward curve similar to the pattern of their physical health dimension. The psychological and environmental dimensions did not show a clear trajectory for either group. As for individual trajectories, the social relationships and environmental dimensions showed different patterns for women with hysterectomy.


CONCLUSIONS
Hysterectomy can improve physical health. In the VH subgroup, physical health was improved significantly, especially from 6-8 weeks postoperatively. In the AH subgroup, physical health and social relationships were improved significantly postoperatively. Social relationships and environmental dimensions tended to show different patterns for women with hysterectomy. These findings may be useful to doctors and nurses, especially in counseling women who have had, or plan to have, a hysterectomy.
Lee
Ching-Fang
CF
Department of Nursing, Oriental Institute of Technology College, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Wen
Fur-Hsing
FH
Lin
Shu-Shan
SS
Lin
Hsien-Ming
HM
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007044:Hysterectomy / Q000523:psychology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life