title: Disabilities and activities of daily living among veterans with old hip disarticulation and transpelvic amputation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Iran-Iraq imposed war lasted eight years and was one of the longest wars of the last century. Twenty-three years have passed since the war ended, but little has been discussed about the long-term results of war amputations in the literature.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In this long-term study, we have evaluated the activities of daily living among veterans with hip or hemipelvis amputations.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was performed on Iran-Iraq war veterans with hip or hemipelvis amputations in Iran. Eighty-four (96.5%) veterans out of 87 registered veterans with hip or hemipelvis amputations participated in the study. The degree of independence for activities of daily living (ADL) was assessed by the Barthel index. The degree of independence for instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) was assessed by the Lawton-Brody scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average follow-up time was 26.6 ± 3.7 years. The average age of veterans was 44.1±7 years old. Of 84 amputees, 57 (67.85%) had limitations in at least one domain of the ADL. The most common single item that affected the patients was ascending and descending stairs seen in 45 (78.9%) veterans, followed by eating seen in 4 (7.01%) veterans. In addition, 70 (83.33%) had limitations in at least one domain of the IADL. The most common single item that affected the veterans was shopping seen in 56 (80%), followed by responsibility for own medications seen in 13 (18.57%) veterans. Spearman correlation coefficient of the sum scores of ADL and IADL showed an intermediate to strong correlation (r = 0.58).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Increasing dependency in ADL is accompanied by increasing dependency in IADL. In the past, the duty of health care providers was saving the life of veterans due to injuries while at present, because these injuries occurred in young and healthy individuals, the need for increased function is being highlighted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Orthopedic Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Amir Reza
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Kachooei
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Orthopedic Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mohamad Hosein
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Ebrahimzadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Orthopedic Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mohamad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hallaj Moghadam
authors.affiliation: Endoscopic and Minimally Invasive Surgery Research Center, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Asieh-Sadat
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Fattahi
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Orthopedic Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Shiva
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Razi
authors.affiliation: Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salehi
authors.affiliation: Janbazan Medical and Engineering Research Center, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Azema
keywords: Activities of Daily Living; Brody Myopathy; Veterans