Persisting symptoms and decreased health-related quality-of-life in a cross-sectional study of treated achalasia patients.
BACKGROUND: Little is known about symptom characteristics of treated achalasia patients and their effect on health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL). AIMS: To examine clinical remission, achalasia-associated symptoms and HRQoL in treated achalasia patients. METHODS: The Eckardt clinical symptom score, RAND-36 and a disease-specific HRQoL questionnaire were sent to 171 treated achalasia patients. RESULTS: 76.6% of the patients returned their questionnaire. 44.9% of them were not in symptomatic remission. Prevalence of frequent dysphagia (at least daily) and chest pain (at least weekly) was 46% and 38%, respectively. Achalasia patients had lower general HRQoL scores than control subjects (all RAND-36 subscales, except health change; P < or = 0.002). Patients with frequent symptoms of chest pain and dysphagia showed lower HRQoL than patients with less frequent symptoms on three RAND-36 subscales (pain, social functioning and general health perceptions; P < 0.003). Patients in clinical remission showed higher HRQoL than patients who were not, however HRQoL in the 'remission group' remained significantly impaired as compared to controls (all RAND-36 subscales except emotional role limitations and mental health; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Many achalasia patients remain severely symptomatic after treatment and have decreased HRQoL. Frequent symptoms are associated with lower HRQoL. Patients in clinical remission show substantially improved, but not restored HRQoL.[1]References
- Persisting symptoms and decreased health-related quality-of-life in a cross-sectional study of treated achalasia patients. Frankhuisen, R., van Herwaarden, M.A., Heijkoop, R., Smout, A.J., Baron, A., Vermeijden, J.R., Gooszen, H.G., Samsom, M. Aliment. Pharmacol. Ther. (2007) [Pubmed]
Annotations and hyperlinks in this abstract are from individual authors of WikiGenes or automatically generated by the WikiGenes Data Mining Engine. The abstract is from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.About WikiGenesOpen Access LicencePrivacy PolicyTerms of Useapsburg
