title: Health-related quality of life in hospital inpatients with pressure ulceration: assessment using generic health-related quality of life measures.
abstract: The objective of this study was to determine the impact of pressure ulceration on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and to undertake a pilot study for a future larger study. The study comprised two parts. First, data from a large UK prospective cohort study were analyzed and the HRQoL of 218 people with pressure ulcers was compared with that of 2,289 people without ulcers using the Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire. After adjusting for age, sex, and comorbidities, patients with pressure ulceration had significantly lower scores for both the physical (coefficient=-3.12, p<0.001) and mental (coefficient=-1.50, p=0.04) component summary scores of the SF-36. Second, a small pilot study was conducted to explore use of other tools. HRQoL was assessed in six patients with and 16 patients without pressure ulcers using the SF-36, the EQ-5D and a pain visual analog scale. SF-36 scores indicated that patients with pressure ulcers had significantly poorer physical functioning (d=22.3, p=0.001), role limitations due to physical problems (d=12.9, p=0.02), and vitality (d=20.6, p=0.04) than those without. EQ-5D scores were also poorer for patients with pressure ulceration, for both the visual analog scale (d=19.2, p=0.02) and the index (d=0.29, p=0.08). Patients with pressure ulceration had more perceived pain than those without; however, this difference was of borderline significance (d=-23.9, p=0.06). Pressure ulceration therefore has an impact on HRQoL that is measurable and persists after adjusting for potential confounding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York, UK. hne100@york.ac.uk
authors.forename: Holly N
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Essex
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Joyce
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sims
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Warriner
authors.forename: Nicky
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cullum
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010865:Pilot Projects; D003668:Pressure Ulcer / Q000523:psychology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires