title: Health-related quality of life is associated with stroke deficits in older adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  although the functional impairments of stroke survivors are associated with poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL), few studies have demonstrated the impact of individual stroke deficits on the quality of life of survivors. In this study, we investigated the association between HRQoL and stroke-related deficits, especially with respect to the number and types of deficits, in older adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  the data were obtained from the 2008 and 2009 Korean Community Health Survey. The EuroQoL 5 Dimension (EQ-5D) questionnaire used as the HRQoL index, and stroke-related information included the number of stroke deficits and five types of deficits.
  
  
  RESULTS
  of the 122,095 participants, 6,698 (5.5%) subjects had a history of stroke, of whom 2,222 patients (33.2%) reported one or more stroke-related deficits. After adjustments for potential variables, the EQ-5D scores of the stroke survivors with persisting deficits were significantly reduced as the number of stroke deficits increased (β = -0.080, -0.147, -0.229, -0.252 and -0.293 for one, two, three, four and five deficits, respectively). The type of stroke deficits was associated with the level of HRQoL. Specifically, the adjusted EQ-5D score of patients who suffered from hemiplegia (β = -0.143; P value < .00001) was worse than that of patients with any stroke deficits. The most frequent problems were related to mobility and pain/discomfort, regardless of the number or type of stroke deficits.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  we found that impaired HRQoL was significantly associated with the number and type of stroke deficits in older adults with a history of stroke.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kyoung-Bok
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Min
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Environment, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jin-Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Min
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006304:Health Status; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015996:Survival Rate / Q000639:trends
keywords: community health survey; older people; quality of life; stroke deficits