Quality of life in patients with axonal polyneuropathy

"Quality of life" (QOL) measurement reflects the impact of a disease on the daily life of a patient, and this can be used as an outcome measure in cli nical trials. QOL measurements are rarely used in patients with neuromuscul ar disease. The aim of this study was to determine whether QOL is reduced i n chronic polyneuropathy, whether there is a relationship between QOL and o bjective measures of disease severity, and whether measuring QOL is a usefu l addition to the assessment of severity of polyneuropathy. We measured QOL in 90 patients with chronic axonal polyneuropathy (33 with hereditary moto r and sensory neuropathy type II and 57 with chronic idiopathic axonal poly neuropathy) using the RAND 36-item Health Survey questionnaire (RAND-36). W e compared the results with the QOL of a reference population, with summed motor and sensory scores, and with the Rankin scale for handicap. Patients had worse scores than the reference population on seven of eight areas of t he RAND-36. Patients with both low motor and low sensory scores rated lower in physical and emotional areas than less impaired patients. A low Rankin score was related only to physical domains. We conclude that in patients wi th chronic axonal polyneuropathy the severity of disease can be assessed wi th a general QOL instrument, and that this provides additional information, particularly on areas related to emotional and social functioning.