QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN CHRONIC LEG ULCER PATIENTS - AN ASSESSMENT ACCORDING TO THE NOTTINGHAM-HEALTH-PROFILE

Chronic leg ulcer is a disease of long duration, occurring predominant ly in elderly people. Traditionally, little interest has been devoted to the study of the impact of this disease on life quality. In the pre sent study the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) was used to assess dise ase influence on six areas of daily life, namely: pain, physical mobil ity, sleep, energy, emotional reactions and social isolation. Standard questionnaires were distributed to patients with chronic leg ulcers o f venous, arterial or mixed venous-arterial origin, treated at the Dep artment of Dermatology. Complete data were obtained from 125 patients. The disease had a marked impact on the patient's subjectively perceiv ed health. Males exhibited remarkably elevated scores, compared to the normative scores for men, especially in the areas of pain, emotional reactions, social isolation and physical restrictions. For women the i mpact of leg ulcer disease, although obvious, seems much less marked t han for males. An exceptionally long median duration of leg ulcer dise ase was found among shop-assistents. It is possible that preventive me asures should be undertaken in this group. The duration of leg ulcer d isease did not seem to influence the quality of life. Patients with lo ng disease duration in fact reported fewer problems than those with sh orter duration, suggesting adaptive mechanisms. This study indicates t hat male leg ulcer patients should be more closely observed for sympto ms of emotional stress, pain, social isolation and impaired physical m obility. More efforts should be made to alleviate pain. Above all this study underlines the importance of considering not only the ulcer but the whole patient.