Quality of life of patients with stroke

Introduction: Stroke affects all dimensions of patients' life, such as bodily functions, emotional balance, social development and general prosperity. Aim: To examine the quality of life of patients with stroke and also possible determinants of this quality of life. Material and Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted with convenience sampling method and study population included 200 patients with stroke in a private rehabilitation center at Tripolis. The SF-12v2 Health Survey Greek version was used to measure quality of life. Determinants under study were the following: gender, age, family status, number of children, educational level, occupation, monthly income, insurance, inpatient or outpatient, type of stroke, comorbidity, weekly hours of therapy, healthcare giver, movement level and self-service level. Results: Scores in all SF-12v2 scales were <50 that means the patients with stroke had worse quality of life than the general population. Outpatients had better scores on scales of physical function, physical role, bodily pain, general health and physical health composite. Moreover, patients with medium or absolute self-service had better scores on scales of physical function, physical role, bodily pain, general health, social function, emotional role and physical health composite. Conclusions: Stroke affects considerably the quality of life of patients, physically and mentally, and provided health services in a specialized rehabilitation center is the best practice.

Keywords: Cross-sectional study, quality of life, rehabilitation center, stroke