ORIGINAL ARTICLES Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Osteoarthritis of the Knee attending two Outpatient Clinics in Jos, Nigeria: A Cross-Sectional Descriptive Study
West Afr J Med . 2023 Jul 28;40(40):689-696.
Keywords:
Health-related quality of life; Knee OA; Outpatient; WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire.Abstract
Abstract in English, FrenchBackground: It appears particularly suitable to measure healthrelated quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) because the chronic debilitating nature of this disease likely takes a considerable toll on HRQoL. The study aims to assess the health-related quality of life in patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis attending the two outpatient clinics. The study also aimed to determine factors affecting the HRQoL in patients with knee OA.
Methods: A facility based, cross sectional descriptive study using the abbreviated World Health Organisation Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) (26-item) questionnaire was carried out in two out-patient (general and orthopaedic) clinics of the University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Nigeria over a period of two months. The medical assistants, record staffs and nurses were involved in recruiting the patients while the Family Physicians performed the interview.
Results: A total of 120 participants were recruited. The mean age was 58.41±13.03 years and the majority of the respondents were female, constituting 102 (85%) of the participants. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 30.83±7.12 kg/m2 and more than half of the participants were obese. The most common associated chronic disease was hypertension, reported by 93(77.5%). A majority, 86(72%) of the respondents reported their overall QoL and General Health (GH) as poor or fair and all the domains (physical, psychological, social relationships, and environmental) of the QoL were low. QoL scores were relatively low for domain due to psychological health and environment with that of psychological health being more severely affected. Epilepsy was found to affect QoL in patients with knee OA (p= 0.022). There was no significant effect of age, sex, educational status, employment status, marital status, and family income on QoL.
Conclusion: This study has shown that patients with knee OA attending the outpatient clinics in JUTH, Jos have relatively poor HRQoL with the domain due to psychological health being more severely affected.
Keywords: Health-related quality of life; Knee OA; Outpatient; WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire.
A C Abimiku 1, S L Pitmang 2, P Agaba 3