Use of health-related quality-of-life measurements to estimate individuals' health on screening.
OBJECTIVE
to investigate the utility of assessing Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in a large group of subjects participating in a screening program for aneurysm and the relationship between HRQoL, diagnosis of aneurysm and related risk factors.


METHODS
subjects involved in this screening program were submitted the EQ-5D questionnaire to report their own HRQoL. HRQoL was reported also a second time by the subjects who were diagnosed with aneurysm during screening and who returned for a monitoring follow up visit a few months later. We evaluated compliance with HRQoL data collection and performed multiple regression analyses in order to investigate the possible relationship between demographic and clinical data with HRQoL.


RESULTS
1,633 subjects screened (6.1% diagnosed with aneurysm) and 125 subjects diagnosed with aneurysm and attending a follow-up visit reported their HRQoL. Completion of the EQ-5D questionnaire was well accepted by both physicians and subjects undergoing screening. HRQoL was not significantly different between the screening and followup visits, on adjusting for age and sex. At the screening visit, HRQoL was associated with ASA class, heart condition, BMI and respiratory diseases. No associations were found at the follow-up visit.


CONCLUSIONS
Assessing HRQoL in screening programs is feasible and well accepted and add useful information on health of large numbers of subjects from general population. This could be considered as a routine approach to optimizing the informative role of screening programs in guiding other investigations or interventions.
Research Centre on Public Health (CESP), University of Milan-Bicocca, Monza, Italy.
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Scalone
Research Centre on Public Health (CESP), University of Milan-Bicocca, Monza, Italy.
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Cortesi
Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, IRCCS San Martino University Hospital-IST, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
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Spinella
Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, IRCCS San Martino University Hospital-IST, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
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Pane
Research Centre on Public Health (CESP), University of Milan-Bicocca, Monza, Italy.
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Cesana
Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, University Federico II of Naples, Naples, Italy.
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Mantovani
Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, IRCCS San Martino University Hospital-IST, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
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Palombo
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017544:Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D011788:Quality of Life; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires