Quality Of Life in Stroke Patients - A Qualitative Study

Introduction: In India stoke is a leading cause of death and acquired human disability. A review of stroke outcome measures in 174 acute stroke trials showed that death was recorded in 76%, impairment in 76%, disability in 42% and handicap in only 2%. One dimension that is rarely measured is health-related quality of life (HRQOL) which aims to assess the impact of disease from the perspective of the patient. Although there is an association between neurological deficits and QL, they are not synonymous. Objectives: To study the health related quality of life with patients of stoke within 3 months of stroke. Methodology: Study Settings : Hospital based study-A continuation of Stroke Registry Sample Size : We took 20 patients from the registry The patients with fresh stoke attack and also who were attending the follow up within the first 3 months of the attack was enrolled into the study. Basic demographic data and the data of stroke outcomes were taken. HRQOLwas evaluated using the WHO BREF. Results: It was seen that majority (55%) of patients expressed a fair physical domain post stroke. About 40% were of opinion that their physical domain was poor. Assessing the psychological domain, majority of the patients said it was poor, 40% said that it was fair. About half (50%) of the patients showed thatthey had poor environmental domain, whereas only 35% it was fair. Conclusion: The quality of life is hampered by stroke in majority of the patients.