Objective assessment of quality of life following panproctocolectomy and ileostomy for ulcerative colitis

A panproctocolectomy and permanent ileostomy improves the quality of life o f those suffering from ulcerative colitis. However, it is not known how the quality of life of patients who had this operation compares with that of t he general population. The aim of this study was to measure the quality of life of these patients using a reliable and validated instrument, and to de termine whether these patients enjoy a similar quality of life to the gener al population. Forty-nine consecutive patients (31 males and 18 females, median age 49 yea rs), who had a panproctocolectomy with a permanent ileostomy for ulcerative colitis in one of three hospitals in Tayside, UK from 1992-1997, participa ted in the study. The median number of months (range) post-surgery was 29 ( 12-72). Participants answered a well-validated generic questionnaire on hea lth-related quality of life: the new SF-36 version 2.0 (SF-36II). The resul ts were then compared with population norms of similar age and gender, deri ved from the Third Oxford Healthy Lifestyle Survey and published by the Hea lth Services Research Unit of the University of Oxford. The mean score difference between patient and population SF-36II scores (95 % confidence intervals) were as follows: physical functioning (PF): -3.9 (- 9.4,1.6); role-physical (RP): -4.1 (-9.9, 1.7); role-emotional (RE): -0.1 ( -5.6,5.4); energy vitality (EV): 8.2 (2.8-13.6); body pain (BP): 6.6 (0.3, 12.9); social functioning (SF): 3.7 (-2.7, 10.1); mental health (NIH): 2.5 (-2.5, 7.5); general health perception (GHP): -1.8 (-7.6,4.0). Despite the fact that these patients underwent major surgery and have a per manent stoma, their quality of life as measured by the SF-36II was very sim ilar to that of the general population.