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[Quality of life of various patient groups during home mechanical ventilation]
H Hein1, B Schucher, H Magnussen
1Zentrum für Pneumologie und Thoraxchirurgie, Krankenhaus Grosshansdorf. Holger.Hein@T-online.de
Background:
During home mechanical ventilation quality of life depends on improvement of ventilation and progress of the underlying disease.
Patients And Methods:
Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD; n = 11), neuromuscular diseases (NMD; n = 8) and scoliosis (n = 8) answered before and after 306 +/- 232 (64 to 910) days home mechanical ventilation a standardized and validated questionnaire (SF 36, Medical Outcomes Trust, Boston, USA).
Results:
For all patients together physical functioning (16 +/- 22 to 24 +/- 26%), general health (33 +/- 15 to 41 +/- 20%) and vitality (25 +/- 16 to 45 +/- 22%) improved significantly (p < 0.05). For COPD vitality (22 +/- 15 to 46 +/- 22%), for patients with NMD mental health (62 +/- 9 to 70 +/- 10%) and for patients with scoliosis vitality (35 +/- 15 to 59 +/- 22%) and mental health (61 +/- 11 to 74 +/- 4%) improved.
Conclusion:
Home mechanical ventilation improves quality of life, but the improvement depends on the underlying disease.