title: Emotional health and quality of life after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Emotional disorders and decrease in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are well-documented sequelae of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of emotional disorders on HRQoL in survivors of SAH.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a retrospective study enrolling 114 SAH-survivors at 1-10 years (mean 4,5 years) after the disease. Emotional State Questionnaire (EST-Q) was used to measure emotional health and the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) was used to assess HRQoL of the patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most of the patients reported good recovery, but EST-Q results revealed high prevalence of emotional disorders after SAH. Almost half of the patients had higher than cut-off values indicating fatigue (47 %) and insomnia (46 %). About one third of SAH-patients had higher than cut-off scores demonstrating depression (30 %) and anxiety (31 %). The patients scored significantly lower in all scales of SF-36 as compared to age-matched general population. All EST-Q subscale results were significantly and negatively correlated with SF-36 scores. Fatigue was independently related to all SF-36 subscales and depression to most of the mental health component scores. Emotional symptoms alone were demonstrated to explain 23-47 % of the SF-36 subscale values, and more than half of the variance of mental health component score values were found to be explained by emotional disorders (53 %).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Emotional disorders are frequent after SAH and significantly associated with impairment of HRQOL. Proper and timely screening tests are important to reveal development of emotional problems and improve QoL for the SAH-patients.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
authors.forename: Artur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vetkas
authors.forename: Tanel
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lepik
authors.forename: Tõnis
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Eilat
authors.forename: Tõnu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rätsep
authors.forename: Toomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Asser
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005221:Fatigue / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult