title: Measuring health-related quality of life in Kashin-Beck disease using EQ-5D.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess health-related quality of life in patients with Kashin-Beck disease (KBD) in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 684 participants from endemic areas of the Shaanxi province in China were recruited through a multistage stratified random sampling. Amongst those, 368 participants were diagnosed with KBD while the rest of 316 were non-KBD participants. Differences between KBD and non-KBD groups were analysed for the percentage of reporting any problems in each of EQ-5D five dimensions, EQ-5D index scores and visual analogue scale (VAS) scores.
  
  
  RESULTS
  KBD patients have a higher percentage of reporting any problems in each of EQ-5D dimension than non-KBD participants and a general population in Beijing. The most affected dimension is pain/discomfort, followed by mobility, anxiety/depression, and usual activities, and self-care being the last. The mean EQ-5D index and VAS scores for KBD patients are significantly lower than those of non-KBD participants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study is the first attempt to measure the health-related quality of life in KBD patients. The results of the study show that KBD has a severe impact on patients' health-related quality of life as measured by EQ-5D. It particularly causes great problems in the dimensions of pain/discomfort, mobility and anxiety/depression.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Medicine College, Key Laboratory of Environment and Gene Related Diseases of Ministry of Education, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Umer
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Farooq
authors.forename: Xiong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Ling-Hsiang
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Chuang
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Guihua
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.forename: Chuantao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D057767:Kashin-Beck Disease / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires