Health Related Quality of Life and Associated Factors Among Adult Patients with Rheumatic Heart Disease Patients in Ethiopia

Abstract

Background

Quality of life (QOL) is defined as “individuals” perceptions of their position in life. Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a consequence of severe, single, or recurrent bouts of acute rheumatic fever. To improve overall patient outcomes, there is currently a greater emphasis on assessing the QOL of these patients. The purpose of this study is to assess the QOL of adult RHD patients who had followed up at St Peter and Tikur Anbessa Hospital, Ethiopia.

Methods

An institutional-based cross-sectional study done at St Peter and Tikur Anbessa Hospital, Ethiopia from March 1−June 30/2021 in adult RHD patients. The sample size was 297. Socio-demographic and clinical data were collected using a structured questionnaire. The Amharic version of Short form-36 (SF-36) was used to assess the QOL. A logistic regression model was used to identify associated factors.

Results

The study included 297 patients. The majority are female (71%), and half of them are aged between 18−30 years of age. Of the patiends, 81.1% had no comorbidity, and 15.8% had interventions. RHD affects all domains and summary scores of short form 36 QOL parameters compared to normative values. Age, marital status, place of residence, presence of comorbidity, number of medications, and whether an intervention was done are associated with the QOL of these patients.

Conclusion

RHD patients had poor QOL assessed by SF-36. It affects all domains and summary score of short form 36 QOL parameters. Old age, divorce, living in rural areas, associated comorbid conditions, and no intervention done are associated with poor QOL. Identification and treating comorbid conditions and intervention may improve QOL.

Keywords:

• quality of life
• rheumatic heart disease
• health-related quality of life
• Ethiopia
• QOL
• RHD

Abbreviations

ARF, Acute Rheumatic Fever; BP, Bodily pain; CDC, Center for Disease Control; CRHD, Chronic Rheumatic Heart Disease; GH, General Health; HF, Heart Failure; HRQOL, Health-Related Quality of Life; MCS, Mental component summary; MH, Mental Health; NGO, Nongovernmental organization; PF, Physical Function; PCA, Principal component analysis; PCS, physical component summary; QOL, Quality of Life; RE, Limitation in role due to emotions; RHD, Rheumatic Heart Disease; RP, Limitations in role due to physical health; SF-36, Short Form-36; SF, Social Function; Std/SD, Standard deviation; TASH, Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital; VT, Vitality.

Data Sharing Statement

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Consent and Ethical Clearance

The study complied with the Declaration of Helsinki. A letter of ethical clearance was obtained from Addis Ababa University, College of Health Sciences, Institutional Review Board (protocol number = 06/21SNM). Written informed consent was obtained from each patient to participate in the interview and to extract data from their medical charts. Privacy and confidentiality were ensured during patient interview and medical chart review.

Acknowledgment

We would like to acknowledge the participants and data collectors for providing us consent to share his history and collecting data respectively. We also want to mention our gratitude to Addis Ababa University for giving us ethical clearance. This paper is based on the thesis of Konno Taddesse. It has been published on the institutional website: http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/28826

Disclosure

The authors declare that there is no conflicts of interest in this work.