Quality of life in stroke patients

Objectives - To describe global and domain-specific quality of life (QOL) after stroke and to identify the factors that are important for post-stroke QOL. Material and methods - A hospital-based sample of 72 stroke patients was followed up for 6 months after stroke onset. QOL was assessed using the Polish version of the Quality of Life Index. Regression analysis was performed to identify the variables that best predicted QOL. Results - The overall QOL of stroke patients was relatively good, although worse than that of subjects in a comparison group. The highest QOL was found in the 'Family' domain, and the lowest in the 'Health and functioning' domain. Emotional support, depression and functional disability were three separate variables explaining 38% of the variance in QOL. Conclusions - Strengthening of family support, treatment of depression and reduction of physical dependence may be the decisive factors in improving post-stroke QOL.