title: [Relationship between quality of life and disability level in patients with occupational disease].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the relationship between the quality of life (QOL) and disability level in patients with occupational disease and to investigate the influencing factors for QOL.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 255 patients with occupational disease were selected from three specialized hospitals dedicated to occupational disease and the department of occupational medicine of one comprehensive hospital using cluster sampling from December 2013 to May 2014. A survey was carried out using WHOQOL-BREF and general questionnaire (including disability level), and statistical analysis was also performed using t test, F test, analysis of variance, and multivariate stepwise regression analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The QOL scores of patients with occupational diseases, from high to low, were social domain (11.48 ± 2.86), psychological domain (10.60 ± 2.28), physiological domain (10.54 ± 1.65), and environmental domain (10.50 ± 2.55), scores of which were significantly lower than the normal levels (P<0.05). QOL showed no significant differences between patients with occupational diseases of different disability levels (P>0.05). Also, QOL showed no significant differences between stage I, II and III patients with pneumoconiosis (P>0.05). The patients with pneumoconiosis were divided into mild, moderate, and severe groups, and the QOL scores of patients with mild pneumoconiosis in psychological and environmental domains were significantly higher than those of the patients with moderate or severe pneumoconiosis (P< 0.05). Patients with occupational poisoning was divided into mild, moderate and severe groups, and the three groups showed no significant differences in QOL score (P>0.05). Multivariate regression analysis showed that the QOL score of each domain was mainly influenced by the degree of lung injury, complications, course of disease, age of onset, income, and employment status.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The QOL of patients with occupational disease is significantly reduced, and disability level cannot accurately reflect their QOL. The treatment of patients with occupational disease should focus on their complications, and at the same time QOL should also be improved.
authors.affiliation: Shandong Occupational Health and Occupational Disease Prevention Research Institute, Jinan 250001, China.
authors.forename: Hongmei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Mingjing
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Wenwen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: E-mail: 1262378709@qq.com.
authors.forename: Jianfang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zou
mesh_terms: D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006801:Humans; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000523:psychology*; D011009:Pneumoconiosis / Q000523:psychology; D011041:Poisoning / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life; D012044:Regression Analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires