title: Determining quality of life in stroke survivors.
abstract: Post-stroke health-related quality of life (HRQoL) reflects a comprehensive view of subjective health and a measure of a person's perceived physical, mental and social health following stroke. Generic scales may enable comparisons between groups of patients with a diverse range of conditions, although they may underestimate the effect of stroke owing to its limited content validity. Stroke-specific HRQoL measures were designed to assess relevant domains that are important to stroke patients. The Stroke Impact Scale, the Stroke Specific Quality of Life scale and The Burden of Stroke Scale are specific HRQoL instruments developed in the last decade. Demographic factors, comorbidity, stroke severity, disability and psychosocial factors (e.g., post-stroke depression and social support) are significant predictors of HRQoL in stroke survivors. Stroke caregiver burden and HRQoL are inversely correlated. HRQoL measures are increasingly used to evaluate the effect of some therapeutic interventions in stroke survivors.
authors.affiliation: Neurology Department, Virgen de lLuz Hospital, Av. Hermandad Donantes de Sangre s/n, CP 16002, Cuenca, Spain. fjcarod-artal@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Francisco Javier
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Carod-Artal
mesh_terms: D001037:Aphasia / Q000209:etiology; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D020127:Recovery of Function; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome