Health Qual Life Out
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Fatigue has not been investigated in long-term Intensive Care Unit (ICU) survivors. This study aimed to assess fatigue through a specific instrument, namely the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy Fatigue (FACIT-F) scale, in ICU survivors one year after hospital discharge. A secondary aim was to compare the findings of FACIT-F with those of the Vitality domain (VT) of the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). ⋯ The 13-item FACIT-F questionnaire is valid to assess fatigue of long-term ICU survivors. VT of SF-36 relates to FACIT-F, but consists of only four items assessing two positive and two negative aspects. FACIT-F grasps the negative aspects of fatigue better than VT. Specific tools assess specific conditions better that general tools.
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Health Qual Life Out · Oct 2016
Interrelationships among common symptoms in the elderly and their effects on health-related quality of life: a cross-sectional study in rural Korea.
Because the world population is aging, it has become increasingly important to focus on and meet the healthcare needs of elderly individuals. This study aims to evaluate the relationships among common symptoms experienced by the elderly, including fatigue, pain, sleep disturbance, indigestion, and depression/anger/anxiety, and to assess how these symptoms affect health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in the elderly population after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and diagnosed diseases. ⋯ Fatigue, pain, sleep disturbance, and depression/anger/anxiety were correlated with one another, and they presented significant independent effects on the HRQoL of elderly individuals. Thus, multidisciplinary healthcare programs are required to address these common symptoms.
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Health Qual Life Out · Oct 2016
Measuring the impact of migraine for evaluating outcomes of preventive treatments for migraine headaches.
Migraine is characterized by headache with symptoms such as intense pain, nausea, vomiting, photophobia, and phonophobia that significantly impact individuals' lives. The objective of this study was to develop a strategy to measure outcomes from the patients' perspectives for use in evaluating preventive treatments for migraine. ⋯ The impact of migraine includes impairments in functioning during and between migraine attacks that vary considerably on a daily basis. There is a need for novel PRO instruments that reflect patients' migraine experience to assess treatment benefit of migraine prophylactics. These instruments must evaluate the concepts identified and be able to capture the variability of patients' experience.