ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY OF LIFE AND ITS CHANGE FOLLOWING REHABILITATION AMONG PATIENTS WITH SPINAL CORD INJURY

Dr. ANJU A.T; Dr. M. JAYASREE

Volume : VIII, Issue : VI, June - 2019

ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY OF LIFE AND ITS CHANGE FOLLOWING REHABILITATION AMONG PATIENTS WITH SPINAL CORD INJURY

Dr. Anju A. T, Dr. M. Jayasree

Abstract :

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a physically disabling illness which affect all aspects of patient�s life including physical, social, behavioral and physiological functioning.The main goal of all rehab programmes is to enable the SCI affected individual to enhance their quality of life(QOL). Therefore it is important to measure the QOL to determine the success of rehab programme in SCI. OBJECTIVES The study aims at assessing the QOL among patients with SCI C6 and below, registering at the department of P M & R, Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram and to assess the change of QOL following rehabilitation for a period of six months . The ambulatory status pre and post rehabilitation was also assessed. METHODOLOGY A prospective observational study of 40 patients aged above 18 years.with SCI, C6 and below was done at the Department of PM &R , Government Medical College ,Thiruvananthapuram in a period of one year . The QOL and its change following six months of rehabilitation was assessed using WHO QOL BREF questionnaire. The association of them with sociodemographic, patient and injury related variables were also assessed. Ambulatory status, pre and post rehab was also assessed using Hoffer Bullock grading system. Appropriate statistical analysis was done. RESULTS The initial QOL of all the patients was low. There was an increment of QOL in all domains physical, psychological, social& environmental in all patients who received conventional rehab measures. . There was an improvement of the ambulatory status after 6 months of rehabilitation in 90% of the patients. 20% had achieved an improvement from bedridden/ wheelchair dependent state to functional ambulation in orthosis. Conclusion-The results suggest that though the initial QOL was low, a well structured rehab programme can definitely enhance it. So there is a definite need for further awareness on what a timely administered rehab can ing for patients with SCI. A predominant increase was noted in physical domain while the social domain changed the least. This emphasizes on the fact that further more efforts are necessary from the part of the rehab team to strengthen the weaker domains as well, to enhance the overall QOL. There was no improvement of the ambulatory status after 6 months of rehabilitation in 10% of the patients who were tetraplegics, of more than one year duration of injury and with multiple complications. 20 % of the patients who had achieved an improvement from bedridden /wheelchair dependent state to functional ambulation in orthosis, were paraplegics, with no complications and who had received early rehab measures.