Quality of life and fuctioning in physically disabled rheumatic adolescents

Abstract EN

Physical disability brings a substantial change in a person's life Burchardt, 2003; Compelling evidence shows that growing disabled frequently leads to an expansion in psychological distress.

(Choi& Marks, 2008).

one of the causes of physical disability is rheumatological disorders.

Adolescence can be a time when rheumatological conditions present to the general practitioner for diagnosis and management.

It is believed that functioning affects the quality of life of individuals in the way that better functioning leads to better quality of life.

Aim: To assess quality of life and correlation between quality of life and functioning in adolescents with physical disability as a result of rheumatic diseases.

Methods: The study was conducted in the period between 11 2015 and 12 2017.

Number of patients within the age range from 9 to 19 years old and meeting the inclusion criteria of the study were 78 patients with different rheumatic diseases causing physical disability.

Functioning was assessed using the Health Assessment Questionnaire while Quality of life was assessed using WHO Quality of Life assessment.

Results: Seventy eight patients were assessed, 48 females and 30 males with age ranging between 9 and 19 years old.

The number of female patients was much higher than that of male patients in the age between 16 and 19 years old, and the level of disability was higher in the female group than in the male group.

The male group were found to have poorer quality of life than the female group, 54% of the patients were compliant to drug therapy while 46% were not.

The main finding was that there was a negative correlation between quality of life and functioning in adolescents with physical disability due to rheumatic diseases.

Conclusion: Functioning has no effect on the quality of life of adolescents with physical disability due to rheumatic diseases.