EVALUATION OF QUALITY OF LIFE OF PATIENTS WITH COMPLICATIONS OF ENTERO- AND COLOSTOMIES

Aim. To investigate the quality of life of patients with and without various stoma complications and study their impact on the patient's quality of life. Materials and Methods. We studied the long-term results of stoma formation in 46 patients, who were discharged from hospital, 1-4 years after surgery. Among them, 7 had undergone enterostomy and 39 - colostomy. Patients were divided into 2 groups - with and without stoma complications. The quality of life was evaluated using a well-known SF-36 questionnaire. Due to non-Gauss distribution of several parameters and difference of dispersions, the characteristics between groups were compared using the non-parametric criterion of Mann- Whitney. Results and Discussion. When comparing the parameters of quality of life, the lowest result - 19.75 by role functioning scale (p <0.05) - was obtained in cases of prolapse of the stoma. On assessing the results of physical pain scale, there was an insignificant decrease in the quality of life (up to 24.9, p<0.05) of patients with stricture of the stoma because of pain. During analysis of the general health and vitality scales, we observed insignificant differences in parameters in patients with and without stoma complications - from 34.00 to 29.59 (p>0.05) on the first scale and from 30.41 to 28.00 (p>0.05) on the second scale. Upon the analysis of the scale of social activity, there was a statistically significant decrease in the quality of life in patients with stoma complications - from 19.58 to 12.9 (p<0.05). A small, though statistically insignificant decreased quality of life by roleemotional scale showed that any postoperative complications, especially in stoma-patients, substantially reduced their emotional state and often led to neurosis and depression. When comparing physical and mental healt components in patients with different stoma complications, we noticed further reduction of quality of life by mental status. The lowest level (p<0.05) of physical health component was stated in patients with stoma strictures. Conclusions. The emergence of complications in the stomapatients deepens the low quality of their life. This is evidenced by the decline of all parameters of SF-36 questionnaire. A statistically significant decrease in the quality of life of patients with stoma stricture is due to an increase of pain frequency, and in patients with hernia and prolapse of the stoma- it is due to substantial limitation of their social activity. Key words: colostomy, enterostomy, stoma complications, quality of life, SF-36