Gepubliceerd in:
01-08-2010 | Brief Communication
Quality-of-life measures in Taiwanese adults with symptomatic gallstone disease
Gepubliceerd in: Quality of Life Research | Uitgave 6/2010
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Purpose
The objective of this study was to investigate the association of quality-of-life status with baseline laboratory findings among Taiwanese adults having symptomatic gallstone disease.
Methods
A prospective quality-of-life survey was administered at a tertiary referral medical center among 102 consecutive adults with symptomatic gallstone disease. Patients underwent regular laboratory testing at admission and were evaluated using the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index (GIQLI). Correlation and regression models were used to investigate quality-of-life predictors.
Results
Compared with the general Taiwanese adult population, patients having symptomatic gallstone disease had significantly poorer performance on all eight SF-36 subscales (P < 0.001). Total GIQLI showed moderate to strong correlation with all eight SF-36 subscale scores (γ = 0.29 ~ 0.62, P < 0.05). In multivariate analysis, serum levels of direct bilirubin (β = −32.6, P = 0.001) and alkaline phosphatase (β = −13.6, P = 0.032) were predictive of worse total GIQLI (adjusted R
2 = 0.183).
Conclusions
Symptomatic gallstone disease may considerably affect patient quality of life in terms of general health status and gastrointestinal-specific measures. Before gallstone surgery, serum levels of direct bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase significantly correlated with quality-of-life measures and can be used to evaluate patient well-being at admission.