Profile of health-related quality of life in Nigerian stroke survivors

No study using a stroke-specific measure has been previously conducted to determine the profile of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in Nigerian stroke patients. Such a study is pre-requisite to planning of patient-centered rehabilitative care aimed at maximizing HRQOL improvement. Our objectives were to develop and validate a stroke-specific HRQOL measure, and determine the profile of HRQOL using it. The HRQOL in stroke patients (HRQOLISP) questionnaire was developed and administered to 100 stroke patients and a control group of 100 age- and gender-matched healthy adults. The Stroke Levity Score (SLS) and modified Rankin Scale (mRS) were applied to measure stroke severity and disability respectively. The HRQOLISP surpassed the Nunnaly's criterion for reliability and was able to discriminate between stroke (HRQOLsum = 73.5 +/- 9.1) and normal subjects (HRQOLsum = 84.4 +/- 6.9, P = 0.002). It differentiated strokes of various severities in the physical dimension (physical, psychological, cognitive and social domains). SLS and mRS correlated only to the domains in the physical dimension. The HRQOLISP demonstrated good content, construct and discriminant validity and internal consistency reliability. Stroke had a multifaceted effect on HRQOL, which was more pronounced in the physical dimension.