Quality of Life Assessment of Stroke Survivors Visiting Tertiary Hospitals in North Western Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the QoL of stroke survivors and identify most common demographic and clinical characteristics that influence their functional ability after stroke The study employed a cross-sectional design that recruited 311 stroke survivors during their clinics visits. A structured questionnaire as well as patients’ folders was used for data collection. Stroke specific quality of life scale (SSQoL) that has 12-domains with 49-items together with modified ranking scale (MRS) were used to assess QoL and to determine functional independence (severity) respectively. Statistical package for social solution (SPSS) was used for data analysis in which frequency tables for all the study variables, correlation between variables, t-test to identify different mean relationships, one way ANOVA and linear regression were used.All analysis were done at 95% confidence interval (p<0.05). The study shows that the survivors have marginally low QoL as indicated by the overall mean QoL (50.16) with only thinking, personality andlanguage domains showing relatively good QOL when compared with the remaining 8-domains. Age and functional independence were shown to have negative influence on QoL of the survivors without any correlation between co-morbidities and post stroke duration. However, the post stroke duration mean at 3-months below had lower QoL of life but analysis of variance indicated only significant difference between 3-months below and 4-6months post stroke without been significantly different between 3-months below and 7-months above. Age and functional independence (severity) were also described to be independent predictors of QoL whereas co-morbidities and post stroke duration cannot independently predict QoL