Influences of Personality Traits on Quality of Life after Stroke

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate influences of personality traits on quality of life (QOL) over the first 3 months after stroke. METHODS: Participants were interviewed 2 weeks after stroke with a follow-up after 3 months, with QOL (WHOQOL-BREF) measured on both occasions. Personality traits were ascertained at the 3-month examination using the Big Five Inventory, quantifying five personality traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness. Influences of personality traits on QOL at the 2 examinations were investigated using repeated-measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) with adjustments for age, gender, number of years in education, use of antidepressants, stroke severity and physical disability. RESULTS: In the 151 patients present at both examinations, neuroticism resulted in lower overall QOL levels on all 4 WHOQOL-BREF domains, and extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness influenced some, but not all, QOL domains. The openness trait had no influence on overall QOL levels but showed significant group-by-time interactions on psychological and environment QOL domains. CONCLUSIONS: QOL over the 3-month period after stroke was influenced by several personality traits. The neuroticism trait influenced overall QOL levels but not trajectories, while the opposite was true for the openness trait.