title: Determinants of the health-related quality of life for stroke survivors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To identify the factors that greatly influence stroke-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The following 5 categories were explored simultaneously in a cross-sectional study: (1) sociodemographic, (2) clinical, (3) symptom severity and physical, (4) neurocognitive, and (5) psychosocial factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 134 patients who experienced a stroke at least 6 months prior were recruited by convenience sampling. Subjective HRQoL levels were measured using disease-specific scales, the Stroke-specific Quality of Life (SS-QoL)-12, and the modified SS-QoL-8, with a newly added subscale, "activities," as well as the total score. After sociodemographic and clinical data were collected, patients were scored with the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, Mini-Mental State Examination, and the Barthel Index (BI). All patients completed the SS-QoL-12, SS-QoL-8, and Stroke Impact Scale (SIS) version 3.0 by self-report. Multiple hierarchical regressions were conducted using the stepwise method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with neurocognitive (type 4) factors, the stroke-specific HRQoL levels were significantly impacted by psychosocial (type 5) and "symptom severity and physical" (type 3) factors. The individual factors that significantly influenced stroke-specific HRQoL were the SIS 3.0 social participation subscore and the BI total score. None of the neurocognitive (type 4) factors were significantly associated with the either SS-QoL-12 score or SS-QoL-8 score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Research and health care aimed to facilitate social participation and limitations in performing daily activities can be beneficial to improve the HRQoL levels of the patients with stroke.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, Fu-Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Electronic address: 068213@mail.fju.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Chia-Yeh
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chou
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D003071:Cognition; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D058992:Social Participation; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D013624:Taiwan; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Disease-specific health-related quality of life; determinants; social participants; stroke