Global quality of life in patients who have undergone the hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: finding from transversal and retrospective study.

Abstract

AIM: To analyse the factors which influence global quality of life in patients after the hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at the Department of Clinical Hematology of the Second Internal Clinic of the University Hospital and Medical Faculty of Charles University in Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The total number of respondents after the transplantation from 2001 to 2003 was 95 and the return rate of questionnaires was 72.1% (71 respondents - 39 men and 32 women, average age - 55.5 years). The Czech version of an international generic European Quality of Life Questionnaire - Version EQ-5D was used. The influence of monitored factors (type of transplantation - autologous, allogenous, age, sex, education, poly-morbidity, marital status, religion and the time lapse from the hematopoietic stem cell transplantation) on the global quality of life in patients was determined by means of dispersion analysis. RESULTS: The above-mentioned factors proved statistically significant dependence of EQ-5D index and EQ-5 VAS on age (in both cases p<0.01), poly-morbidity (in both cases p<0.01) and on religion (in both cases p<0.01). EQ-5D index (dimensions of quality of life) and EQ-5D VAS (a subjective health condition) significantly decrease with increasing age and with a higher number of associated diseases, and are significantly higher in patients who believe in God compared to patient without religious beliefs. The influence of other factors on EQ-5D index and EQ-5D VAS was not proven as statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The global quality of life in patients who underwent the hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at the Department of Clinical Hematology of the Second Internal Clinic of the University Hospital and Medical Faculty of Charles University in Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic, is very high, which is seen from EQ-5D index (72.5%) and EQ-5D VAS (76.5%) values.