Open AccessIdentifying relationships between symptom clusters and quality of life in adults with chronic mixed venous and arterial leg ulcers
Author(s) -
Do Hien Thi Thu,
Edwards Helen,
Finlayson Kathleen
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
international wound journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.867
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1742-481X
pISSN - 1742-4801
DOI - 10.1111/iwj.12405
Subject(s) - medicine , quality of life (healthcare) , cluster (spacecraft) , etiology , physical therapy , systemic inflammation , inflammation , nursing , computer science , programming language
The objective of this study was to identify symptom clusters and their effect on quality of life (QOL) of adults with chronic leg ulcers of mixed venous and arterial aetiology. A secondary analysis of data from four existing prospective longitudinal studies conducted by a wound healing research group in Australia was undertaken. A total of 110 patients who met the inclusion criteria were selected for this study. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to identify symptom clusters and correlational analyses to examine relationships between the identified symptom clusters and QOL. The EFA identified two distinct symptom clusters: a ‘systemic symptom cluster’ consisting of pain, fatigue and depressive symptoms; and a ‘localised‐leg symptom cluster’ including pain, fatigue, oedema, lower limb inflammation and exudate. Physical QOL correlated significantly with the systemic symptom cluster ( r = −0·055, P < 0·0001) and the localised‐leg symptom cluster ( r = −0·054, P < 0·0001), whereas mental QOL was associated only with the systemic symptom cluster ( r = −0·038, P = 0·01). The results suggest that appropriate intervention strategies targeting specific symptom clusters should be developed. Targeting patients with symptom clusters is particularly important because they are at high risk and the most vulnerable for reduced QOL.