Quality of life Archives - Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia
Summary
Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia. 2006;28(6):352-357
DOI 10.1590/S0100-72032006000600006
PURPOSE: to analyze the impact of urinary incontinence on women's quality of life, submitted or not to surgical treatment. METHODS: sixty women with urinary incontinence during stress were interviewed and divided into two groups classified as: S-CIR group, including 30 women not yet submitted to specific surgical treatment for urinary incontinence, and C-CIR group, including 30 women who had already undergone surgery. The scores obtained after the addition of values attributed to each question of the questionnaires were compared between the two groups. The number of patients who showed any impairment on quality of life due to specific symptoms of incontinence was also compared between groups. Data were analyzed by the variance test and the chi-square test, when applicable. RESULTS: symptoms, limitations and concerns related to urinary incontinence exhibited a strong negative impact on quality of life in patients from the S-CIR group. Impairment during physical exercises, domestic activities and daily working activities was the most important affected aspect in patients of the S-CIR group. Furtherimore, patients of the S-CIR group reported more fatigue, embarrassment, and excessive nervousness. Urine loss during stress followed by urgency were also significantly relevant aspects when groups were compared. CONCLUSIONS: the study allowed the identification and quantification of the derangements of quality of life due to urinary incontinence and demonstrated that these derangements either become less important or even disappear in women submitted to surgery.
Summary
Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia. 2006;28(6):352-357
DOI 10.1590/S0100-72032006000600006
PURPOSE: to analyze the impact of urinary incontinence on women's quality of life, submitted or not to surgical treatment. METHODS: sixty women with urinary incontinence during stress were interviewed and divided into two groups classified as: S-CIR group, including 30 women not yet submitted to specific surgical treatment for urinary incontinence, and C-CIR group, including 30 women who had already undergone surgery. The scores obtained after the addition of values attributed to each question of the questionnaires were compared between the two groups. The number of patients who showed any impairment on quality of life due to specific symptoms of incontinence was also compared between groups. Data were analyzed by the variance test and the chi-square test, when applicable. RESULTS: symptoms, limitations and concerns related to urinary incontinence exhibited a strong negative impact on quality of life in patients from the S-CIR group. Impairment during physical exercises, domestic activities and daily working activities was the most important affected aspect in patients of the S-CIR group. Furtherimore, patients of the S-CIR group reported more fatigue, embarrassment, and excessive nervousness. Urine loss during stress followed by urgency were also significantly relevant aspects when groups were compared. CONCLUSIONS: the study allowed the identification and quantification of the derangements of quality of life due to urinary incontinence and demonstrated that these derangements either become less important or even disappear in women submitted to surgery.
Summary
Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia. 2006;28(3):195-204
DOI 10.1590/S0100-72032006000300010
Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies among women. Its diagnosis and treatment have social, economic, physical, emotional/psychological and sexual repercussions. The main parameters used to assess the results of anticancer therapy are disease-free survival and overall survival. More recently, quality of life (QOL) has been considered an additional parameter. No consensus exists about the definition of QOL. However, most definitions take into account multidimensional and subjective aspects of QOL. The identification of factors related to QOL and comprehension of how these factors contribute to the perception of QOL are reasons for debate, since the concept of QOL is directly related to the social and cultural context in which the individual is inserted. Age at diagnosis, chemotherapy, type of surgery, climacteric symptoms, relationship between the couple, and sexuality are several factors associated with QOL in women with breast cancer. QOL associated with different antineoplastic therapies may help patients and physicians choose the best therapeutic modality. Towards this end, the current article addresses various aspects of QOL of breast cancer women, and presents the state-of-the-art knowledge on the topic.
Summary
Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia. 2006;28(3):195-204
DOI 10.1590/S0100-72032006000300010
Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies among women. Its diagnosis and treatment have social, economic, physical, emotional/psychological and sexual repercussions. The main parameters used to assess the results of anticancer therapy are disease-free survival and overall survival. More recently, quality of life (QOL) has been considered an additional parameter. No consensus exists about the definition of QOL. However, most definitions take into account multidimensional and subjective aspects of QOL. The identification of factors related to QOL and comprehension of how these factors contribute to the perception of QOL are reasons for debate, since the concept of QOL is directly related to the social and cultural context in which the individual is inserted. Age at diagnosis, chemotherapy, type of surgery, climacteric symptoms, relationship between the couple, and sexuality are several factors associated with QOL in women with breast cancer. QOL associated with different antineoplastic therapies may help patients and physicians choose the best therapeutic modality. Towards this end, the current article addresses various aspects of QOL of breast cancer women, and presents the state-of-the-art knowledge on the topic.
Summary
Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia. 2005;27(12):737-743
DOI 10.1590/S0100-72032005001200006
PURPOSE: to evaluate the frequency of anxiety and depression in main caretakers of patients with terminal breast or gynecological cancer. METHODS: for this cross-sectional study, 133 informal caretakers of terminally-ill breast and gynecologic cancer patients were included. Patients were hospitalized for palliative care in the Oncology Clinic of the "Centro de Atenção Integral à Saúde da Mulher (Campinas, Brasil) from August 2002 to May 2004. Seventy-one of the patients had breast cancer and 62 had gynecological malignancies. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD) was applied to these informal caretakers, in order to detect anxiety and depression, and they were also interviewed to provide additional information regarding their age, gender, religion, relation to patient, current occupation, if they cared for other people, whether their routine had changed and whether other people helped them to care for the patient. Logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratio (OR) and its confidence interval (CI), used to assess the relationship between the diagnoses of anxiety and depression among the informal caretakers. For multiple analyses, the stepwise criterion for variable selection was used. RESULTS: 43% percent of the patients identified their daughters as their main caretaker, and 24%, their husbands. Most of the caretakers were over 35 years old (63%), 68% were female, 59% were unemployed, 47% cared for another person and 84% referred that his/her routine had changed because of caring. Anxiety was detected in 99 caretakers (74.4%) and depression in 71 (53.4%). Anxiety and depression were strongly correlated (odds ratio 5.6; 95% confidence interval 2.2 to 15.9). Bivariate analysis disclosed that the patients' husbands were less affected by depression, but multivariate analysis revealed that only the fact of being male was related to a lower prevalence of anxiety. CONCLUSION: caring for terminally-ill cancer patients led to high prevalence of anxiety and depression. Only men and the patients' husbands were found to have a lower prevalence of anxiety.
Summary
Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia. 2005;27(12):737-743
DOI 10.1590/S0100-72032005001200006
PURPOSE: to evaluate the frequency of anxiety and depression in main caretakers of patients with terminal breast or gynecological cancer. METHODS: for this cross-sectional study, 133 informal caretakers of terminally-ill breast and gynecologic cancer patients were included. Patients were hospitalized for palliative care in the Oncology Clinic of the "Centro de Atenção Integral à Saúde da Mulher (Campinas, Brasil) from August 2002 to May 2004. Seventy-one of the patients had breast cancer and 62 had gynecological malignancies. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD) was applied to these informal caretakers, in order to detect anxiety and depression, and they were also interviewed to provide additional information regarding their age, gender, religion, relation to patient, current occupation, if they cared for other people, whether their routine had changed and whether other people helped them to care for the patient. Logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratio (OR) and its confidence interval (CI), used to assess the relationship between the diagnoses of anxiety and depression among the informal caretakers. For multiple analyses, the stepwise criterion for variable selection was used. RESULTS: 43% percent of the patients identified their daughters as their main caretaker, and 24%, their husbands. Most of the caretakers were over 35 years old (63%), 68% were female, 59% were unemployed, 47% cared for another person and 84% referred that his/her routine had changed because of caring. Anxiety was detected in 99 caretakers (74.4%) and depression in 71 (53.4%). Anxiety and depression were strongly correlated (odds ratio 5.6; 95% confidence interval 2.2 to 15.9). Bivariate analysis disclosed that the patients' husbands were less affected by depression, but multivariate analysis revealed that only the fact of being male was related to a lower prevalence of anxiety. CONCLUSION: caring for terminally-ill cancer patients led to high prevalence of anxiety and depression. Only men and the patients' husbands were found to have a lower prevalence of anxiety.
Summary
Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia. 2005;27(5):235-242
DOI 10.1590/S0100-72032005000500002
PURPOSE: the proposal of the present study was to translate and to validate King's Health Questionnaire (KHQ) for Brazilian women with urinary incontinence. METHODS: a hundred and thirty-four patients with urinary incontinence, confirmed by urodynamic study, were enrolled from the outpatient clinic of Uroginecology. Initially, we translated the KHQ into the Brazilian Portuguese language in agreement with international criteria. Due to language and cultural differences we performed a cultural, structural, conceptual, and semantic adaptation of the KHQ, in order to make sure that patients were able to fully understand the questions. All patients answered the KHQ twice on the same day, within an interval of 30 min, applied by two different interviewers. After 7 to 14 days, on a second visit, the questionnaire was applied again. Reliability (intra- and interobserver internal consistency), construct and discriminative validity were tested. RESULTS: several cultural adaptations were necessary until we reached the final version. The intra-observer internal consistency (alpha of Cronbach) of the several dimensions varied from moderate to high (0.77-0.90), and the interobserver internal consistency varied from 0.66 to 0.94. Moderate to strong correlation was detected among the specific KHQ urinary incontinence dominions and clinical urinary incontinence manifestations known to affect the quality of life of these patients. CONCLUSION: KHQ was adapted to the Portuguese language and to the Brazilian culture, showing great reliability and validity. It should be included and used in any Brazilian urinary incontinence clinical trial.
Summary
Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia. 2005;27(5):235-242
DOI 10.1590/S0100-72032005000500002
PURPOSE: the proposal of the present study was to translate and to validate King's Health Questionnaire (KHQ) for Brazilian women with urinary incontinence. METHODS: a hundred and thirty-four patients with urinary incontinence, confirmed by urodynamic study, were enrolled from the outpatient clinic of Uroginecology. Initially, we translated the KHQ into the Brazilian Portuguese language in agreement with international criteria. Due to language and cultural differences we performed a cultural, structural, conceptual, and semantic adaptation of the KHQ, in order to make sure that patients were able to fully understand the questions. All patients answered the KHQ twice on the same day, within an interval of 30 min, applied by two different interviewers. After 7 to 14 days, on a second visit, the questionnaire was applied again. Reliability (intra- and interobserver internal consistency), construct and discriminative validity were tested. RESULTS: several cultural adaptations were necessary until we reached the final version. The intra-observer internal consistency (alpha of Cronbach) of the several dimensions varied from moderate to high (0.77-0.90), and the interobserver internal consistency varied from 0.66 to 0.94. Moderate to strong correlation was detected among the specific KHQ urinary incontinence dominions and clinical urinary incontinence manifestations known to affect the quality of life of these patients. CONCLUSION: KHQ was adapted to the Portuguese language and to the Brazilian culture, showing great reliability and validity. It should be included and used in any Brazilian urinary incontinence clinical trial.
