Determining quality of life in stroke survivors

Abstract

Post-stroke health-related quality of life (HRQoL) reflects a comprehensive view of subjective health and a measure of a person’s perceived physical, mental and social health following stroke. Generic scales may enable comparisons between groups of patients with a diverse range of conditions, although they may underestimate the effect of stroke owing to its limited content validity. Stroke-specific HRQoL measures were designed to assess relevant domains that are important to stroke patients. The Stroke Impact Scale, the Stroke Specific Quality of Life scale and The Burden of Stroke Scale are specific HRQoL instruments developed in the last decade. Demographic factors, comorbidity, stroke severity, disability and psychosocial factors (e.g., post-stroke depression and social support) are significant predictors of HRQoL in stroke survivors. Stroke caregiver burden and HRQoL are inversely correlated. HRQoL measures are increasingly used to evaluate the effect of some therapeutic interventions in stroke survivors.

Keywords::

• caregiver
• outcome
• post-stroke depression
• quality of life
• stroke
• stroke scales

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Notes

HRQoL: Health-related quality of life.