Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life (QOL) Among Patients with Tracheostomy Using WHO-QOL BREF Questionnaire

Tracheostomy is one of the most frequently performed surgical procedures worldwide. The placement of tracheostomy in a patient is associated with significant morbidities as apart from the physical impact of the procedure, a profound and persistent effect on psychosocial, financial, environmental and other aspects of global health of the patient becomes inevitable. However, there is a surprising paucity of literature assessing the Quality of Life (QOL) in patients with tracheostomy tube placement. This study was undertaken with the objective to assess the effect of tracheostomy on Quality of Life (QOL) of patients in an urban tertiary health care setup in India. Patients who underwent tracheostomy tube placement irrespective of the indication were included in the study and followed up for a period of up to 3 months to determine the effect of tracheostomy tube placement on the Quality of Life. A questionnaire based on World Health Organisation (WHO) QOL BREF scheme was utilized to evaluate QOL in the immediate post operative period and again appraised after a period of 3 months. The results were statistically analyzed, tabulated and compared using paired t test to evaluate the 'p' value in every domain i.e., physical, social, psychological and environmental, of the WHO QOL-BREF evaluation tool. 63 patients were enrolled in the study after excluding the patients not fulfilling the selection criteria. The majority of patients were male over the age of 50 years (mean age 57 years). There was a noteworthy depreciation in QOL score in patients as WHO-QOL-BREF scores in all the 4 domains were significantly lower after 3 months. The most affected were the Environmental domain (p value 5E-15) whereas the domain of Psychological showed least depreciation of mean QOL score (p value 7.7E-5). Insertion of a tracheostomy tube has a significant impact on the quality of life of the patient and the amount of burden increases with worsening quality of life. A holistic and scientific approach to assess and manage tracheostomy induced morbidity on the patient is necessary. The patients' views of the aspects of life should be used by health policy makers, clinicians, and caregivers as a reliable guide to the most important priorities for treatment and medical interventions. Large prospective multicenter studies may be undertaken for the developement of a standardized and internationally accepted tracheostomy specific quality of life evaluation tool.