Health-related quality of life perception among patients with risk for cardiovascular diseases in the Family medicine clinic of Kaunas clinics

Abstract

Introduction. Cardiovascular diseases are the world’s leading cause of death. Patients’ well-being can be determined not only by the disease itself, but also by low social support, occupation, economic status, anxiety and depression. Indicating patient-reported measures may be useful in risk stratification and management of cardiovascular diseases. Self-perception of health status and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) provide information that complements traditional health indicators based on morbidity and mortality. HRQoL is conceptualized as a patient’s perceptions of the impact of disease and treatment on functioning in a variety of dimensions, including physical, mental, and social domains. The most widely used instruments to determine HRQoL are the 12-item Short Form Survey (SF-12) and the 36-item Short Form Survey (SF-36). [5-6] The SF-12 survey demonstrates reliable and valid application in various clinical studies and is equal to SF-36. It includes 12 questions that measure health related quality of life. This survey evaluates physical functioning, role limitations due to physical health, body pain, vitality, social functioning; role limitations due to emotional problems and mental health. These eight domain scores of HRQoL can be aggregated into two summary scores: a physical component summary (PCS) and a mental component summary (MCS). Higher scores indicate better health. The questionnaire is multipurpose and suitable to survey patients with risk for cardiovascular disease. Aim.To identify health-related quality of life perception among patients with risk for cardiovascular diseases in the family medicine clinic of Kaunas clinics. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out at the Family Medicine Clinic in Kaunas Clinics with the permission of the head of the department of family medicine. The study was approved by the Bioethics centre of Lithuanian university of Health sciences [...].