Quality of life in patients with peripheral artery disease

BACKGROUND: Vascular diseases have a direct influence on quality of life (QoL) and directly affect patients’ biopsychosocial aspects. Quality of life is therefore an important element for evaluation of vascular interventions. OBJECTIVE: To assess QoL in inpatients with peripheral arterial disease at a vascular surgery service in a charitable tertiary hospital. METHODS: This is an exploratory study, with a cross-sectional design, conducted at a vascular surgery service in a charitable tertiary hospital, assessing patients with peripheral arterial disease using two questionnaires, one on quality of life (the WHOQOL-Bref short form) and the other on sociodemographic conditions. RESULTS: It was observed that the physical domain, environment domain and total QoL scores were the lowest for the whole sample of 127 interviewees. Additionally, an intragroup analysis showed that men scored higher in all domains when compared with women, with the exception of the social relationships domain. CONCLUSIONS: Women with peripheral arterial disease exhibited lower scores than men in all domains of the QoL questionnaire, except for social relationships.