Objective: to study the changes in health-related quality of life from beginning of anticoagulation therapy to six-month follow-up, and to study associations of sociodemographic and clinical characteristics with measures of quality of life and general health status at six-month follow-up, in individuals using oral anticoagulation due to various medical indications for the therapy.

Method: prospective study performed at a city in the state of Paraná, Brazil, composed of 78 patients. Measures included the Duke Anticoagulation Satisfaction Scale and the Medical Outcomes Survey Short Form SF-36.

Results: mean age was 57 years (S.D.= 16) and 54% were women. Compared to the beginning of therapy, there was a statistically significant improvement in health-related quality of life at six-month follow-up. Linear regression analyses explained 32% and 30%, respectively, of the variance of the Duke Anticoagulation Satisfaction Scale and of the general health status. There was improvement in all components of the SF-36, except Mental Health.

Conclusion: The use of oral anticoagulation therapy was associated with improvement in health-related quality of life in the first six months of therapy. This study is longitudinal and therefore, has fewer limitations than cross-sectional studies published to date in the Nursing literature in Brazil.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/s0104-11692013000700014DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

quality life
20
health-related quality
16
six-month follow-up
16
oral anticoagulation
12
life six-month
8
anticoagulation therapy
8
general health
8
health status
8
duke anticoagulation
8
anticoagulation satisfaction
8

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!