Title: Quality of Life of Filarial Lymphoedema Patients in a Coastal Area of Alappuzha District, Kerala
Authors: Dr A Krishnaveni, Dr Sairu Philip, Dr Carol Pinheiro
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v5i5.226
Abstract
Alappuzha district in Kerala is an endemic area for Lymphatic Filariasis. Since 2006 self help groups for filarial lymphedema patients were initiated with the joint efforts from the Dept of Community Medicine, NGOs and the National Filariasis Control Unit, Alappuzha. They are working for the well being and improvement of filarial lymphedema patients. A cross sectional study was conducted to estimate the quality of life of filarial lymphoedema patients in a coastal area of Alappuzha district. Various clinics were organized at the subcentre level in Mararikulam South Panchayat which is a rural costal area in Alappuzha. Data was collected using LYMQOL questionnaire which contains four domains– Function, Appearance, Symptoms, Mood. In each domain a score of 80 % or more was considered good. The overall score was divided into tertiles, those in the lower tertile was presumed to have good quality of life and middle and upper tertiles was considered as average and poor quality of life. A total of 56 patients were obtained. Of whom 57.1%were females. In the functional domain only 12.5% had good quality of life whereas other domains such as appearance, symptoms, mood ;92.9% ,75% ,51.8% had good quality of life respectively. Overall 8.9% had good quality of life, 82.1%had average quality of life and 8.9 % had poor quality of life.
Keywords: Quality of life , filarial lymph edema and self help groups.
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