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SIX MONTHS QUALITY OF LIFE AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG ADULTS WITH POST TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY AT MULAGO NATIONAL REFERRAL HOSPITAL

Introduction: Traumatic brain injury (TBI), often referred to as "Silent epidemic" remains a growing public health concern and represents the greatest contributor to death and disability globally among all trauma related injuries. Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are one of the most common consequences of traffic accidents and patients with mild, moderate or severe brain injuries suffer from physical, cognitive, behavioral, emotional and social problems. The global incidence of all cause and all severity TBI is 939 cases per 100,000-person years of which Road Traffic Injuries contribute the most. Traumatic brain injuries resulting from road traffic collisions to be greatest in Africa and South East Asia both at 56% and lowest in North America at 25%. Traumatic Brain Injury is a major cause of increased Disability Adjusted Life Years, high costs of treatment per case and reduced quality of life. General objective: To determine the physical and social relations Quality of Life and the associated factors among patients six months after Traumatic Brain Injury at Mulago National Referral Hospital. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that recruited 296 participants with TBIs from Mulago Hospital Surgical Out Patients Department (OPD) following approval from School of Medicine Research and ethics Committee (SOMREC). Participants were recruited conveniently and given a 37-item QOLIBRI questionnaire. Data was entered into Epidata 4.2 and imported into STATA 15/MP and R for analysis. Factors associated with low QOL were assessed at both bivariate and multivariate levels using modified Poisson regression method. Results: A total of 274 participants were recruited for the study, the mean age was 34 years (SD =13.8) and 66.4% were men. The mean physical QOL was 53.02 (SD=13.06), there was no statistical difference in the mean physical QOL between men and women (53.91 vs 51.26 P-value = 0.1128). A total of 148 participants had a physical QOL above the mean making a proportion of 54.0% (95%CI 47.9 – 60.0). The mean social relations QOL was 28.05 (SD=11.88), the women had a better mean social QOL than men (30.74 vs 26.69, P value = 0.008). A total of 152 participants had a social relations QOL below the mean making a proportion of 55.5% (95%CI 49.4-61.5). The factors associated with diminished physical QOL were; Age above 55 years, PR = 1.54 (95%CI 1.11-2.14) P-value =0.010, being married PR=0.73(95%CI 0.54-0.99), single PR=0.63 (95%CI 0.41-0.96), severe TBI PR= 1.87 (95%CI 1.50-2.34). And the factors associated with social relations QOL were; No formal education PR = 0.68 (0.52-0.90), severe TBI at admission PR= 0.25 (95%CI 0.15-0.41), presence of a comorbidity 0.15 (95%CI 0.06-0.38). Conclusion: Most of our participants had a mean physical quality of life which was 53.02. The mean social relations quality of life was generally low for every individual and lower among men compared to women. The factors that were associated with the reduced physical quality of life included; advanced age at diagnosis, married couples, being single, severe traumatic brain injury at diagnosis and presence of at least one comorbidity. The factors that were associated with diminished social relations quality of life included; having no formal education, severe traumatic brain injury at diagnosis and presence of at least one comorbidity.

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Author: murithi m bernard
Contributed by: asbat digital library
Institution: makerere university
Level: university
Sublevel: post-graduate
Type: dissertations