Health-related quality of life of patients with gastrointestinal symptoms

The Impact of Revascularisation on Quality of Life in Chronic Mesenteric Ischemia

BACKGROUND

Chronic mesenteric ischemia (CMI) is characterized by long-standing abdominal symptoms due to insufficient mesenteric circulation. Data on the effect of revascularisation on quality of life (QoL) for CMI are scarce. This study is the first to evaluate the impact of revascularisation on quality of life.

METHODS

Seventy-nine patients with CMI or acute-on-chronic mesenteric ischemia (AoCMI) underwent an intervention of one or more mesenteric arteries between January 2010 and July 2012. QoL before and after intervention was measured with the EuroQol-5D. Preintervention questionnaires were of standard care. Postintervention data were obtained by resending a questionnaire to the patients between February and May 2013. To investigate the clinical relevance of our findings, the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) was used. Since there is no established MCID for CMI, we used the literature reference MCID of inflammatory bowel syndrome (IBS) of 0.074.

RESULTS

Fifty-five (69.6%) of 79 patients returned their questionnaire and 23 (29.1%) were completely filled out. There was a significant increase of the median EQ-index score from 0.70 to 0.81 (p=0.02) and a significant reduction of symptoms in the domains usual activities (34.4%) and pain/discomfort (32.3%). There was a significant improvement of 17% in overall current health condition (VAS) (p=0.001). The MCID between baseline and postoperative EQ-5D index score was 0.162, indicating a clinically relevant improvement of quality of life after revascularisation.

CONCLUSION

Quality of life of CMI patients is improved after mesenteric artery revascularisation.

A rapid, simple questionnaire to assess gastrointestinal symptoms after oral ferrous sulphate supplementation

BACKGROUND

Oral iron supplementation is often associated with rapid onset of gastrointestinal side-effects. The aim of this study was to develop and trial a short, simple questionnaire to capture these early side-effects and to determine which symptoms are more discriminating.

METHODS

The study was a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized parallel trial with one week treatment followed by one week wash-out. Subjects were randomized into two treatment groups (n = 10/group) to receive either ferrous sulphate (200 mg capsules containing 65 mg of iron) or placebo, both to be taken at mealtimes twice daily during the treatment period. Subjects completed the questionnaires daily for 14 days. The questionnaire included gastrointestinal symptoms commonly reported to be associated with the oral intake of ferrous iron salts (i.e. nausea, vomiting, heartburn, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, and constipation).

RESULTS

Seventy five per cent of participants reporting the presence of one or more symptoms in the first week of the study were in the ferrous sulphate group. In the second week of the study (i.e. wash-out), 67% of the participants reporting one or more symptom(s) were in the ferrous sulphate group. In the first week of the study (treatment) the number of symptoms reported by participants in the ferrous sulphate group (mean ± SEM = 6.7 ± 1.7) was significantly higher than that for participants in the placebo group (1.2 ± 0.5) (p = 0.01). In the second week of the study (wash-out) the number of symptoms reported by participants in the ferrous sulphate group (4.6 ± 2.0) appeared higher than for participants in the placebo group (1.0 ± 0.7) although this did not reach significance (p = 0.12). Events for which the gastrointestinal symptom questionnaire was most discriminatory between ferrous sulphate and placebo groups were: heartburn, abdominal pain and the presence of black stools (all p ≤ 0.03).

CONCLUSIONS

A tool for the detection of commonly-occurring side effects should not require large study numbers to be effective. With just 10 subjects per group (iron or placebo), this simple questionnaire measures gastrointestinal side-effects associated with oral iron (ferrous sulphate) supplementation, and would be appropriate for use in intervention studies or clinical trials.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02146053 (21/05/2014).

Prevalence of gastrointestinal and psychosomatic symptoms among Asian patients undergoing regular hemodialysis

AIM

Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are reported to be common among patients with chronic disorders including end-stage renal disease (ESRD). This questionnaire study assessed the prevalence of GI symptoms among patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) and to correlate with the presence of diabetes mellitus and psychosomatic symptoms in Asian patients with ESRD.

METHODS

A total of 123 patients (male 47.2%) participated in this study. GI symptoms (upper GI: anorexia, nausea, vomiting, odynophagia, dysphagia, early satiety, heartburn, dyspepsia and lower GI: abdominal bloating, non-epigastrium abdominal pain, bowel habit and bleeding per rectum) and psychosomatic symptoms (anxiety, backache, depression, headache and insomnia) in the previous 12 months were enquired and compared with age and gender matched controls (n = 197).

RESULTS

The mean age of patients was 51.8 ± 12.9 years with mean duration of HD of 28 ± 38.2 months. Overall, 70.7% of ESRD patients had experienced any GI symptoms; upper GI, 65% and lower GI, 34.1%, significantly more than controls (P < 0.05). ESRD patients had more anorexia, nausea, vomiting, dyspepsia, irregular bowel habit and bleeding per rectum (all P < 0.05). Overlap of upper and lower GI symptoms was reported by 34.1%, significantly higher than control (14.2%, P < 0.05). ESRD patients also experienced significantly more anxiety, depressive symptoms and insomnia (all P < 0.05). Among the patients with ESRD, the presence of any psychosomatic symptoms correlated significantly with the presence of any upper or lower GI symptoms and overlapping of GI symptoms. Such correlations were not seen with diabetes mellitus.

CONCLUSION

Gastrointestinal and psychosomatic symptoms are common among our Asian patients with ESRD undergoing regular HD. The presence of underlying psychosomatic symptoms but not diabetes mellitus correlated significantly with the presence of GI symptoms.

Improvement in health-related quality of life after therapy with omeprazole in patients with coronary artery disease and recurrent angina-like chest pain. A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of the SF-36 survey

Background

Many patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) have overlapping gastroenterological causes of recurrent chest pain, mainly due to gastroesophageal reflux (GER) and aspirin-induced gastrointestinal tract damage. These symptoms can be alleviated by proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). The study addressed whether omeprazole treatment also affects general health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with CAD.

Study

48 patients with more than 50% narrowing of the coronary arteries on angiography without clinically overt gastrointestinal symptoms were studied. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study design, patients were randomized to take omeprazole 20 mg bid or a placebo for two weeks, and then crossed over to the other study arm. The SF-36 questionnaire was completed before treatment and again after two weeks of therapy.

Results

Patients treated with omeprazole in comparison to the subjects taking the placebo had significantly greater values for the SF-36 survey (which relates to both physical and mental health), as well as for bodily pain, general health perception, and physical health. In comparison to the baseline values, therapy with omeprazole led to a significant increase in the three summarized health components: total SF-36; physical and mental health; and in the following detailed health concept scores: physical functioning, limitations due to physical health problems, bodily pain and emotional well-being.

Conclusions

A double dose of omeprazole improved the general HRQL in patients with CAD without severe gastrointestinal symptoms more effectively than the placebo.

Stapled trans-anal rectal resection (STARR) in the surgical treatment of the obstructed defecation syndrome: results of STARR Italian Registry

PURPOSE

This study was designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of stapled trans-anal rectal resection (STARR) in the treatment of obstructed defecation syndrome ODS by the analysis of the data collected in the STARR Italian Registry (SIR) with a special emphasis on the analysis of symptoms and quality of life.

METHODS

Collected data included, preoperative tests findings, and the evaluation of symptoms; the latter was obtained by using dedicated tools such as the Obstructed Defecation Syndrome Score (ODS-S), the Severity Symptom Score (SSS), and the Continence Grading Scale (CGS). Data on the quality of life were collected by Patient Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life (PAC-QoL) and the Euro Quality of Life-5 Domains Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-5D VAS). The evaluation of the symptoms and the quality of life was repeated 6 and 12 months after surgery.

RESULTS

The SIR had collected data on 2171 patients (1653 females, 76.1%; mean age 56.2 years; range 20-96 years). A significant improvement (P < .0001) was seen between preoperative and 12-month follow-up in all scores: ODS-S (16.7 vs. 5.0), SSS (15.6 vs. 2.6), CGS (2.0 vs. 0.7), PAC-QoL (51.0 vs. 22.1), and EQ-5D VAS (57.5 vs. 85.7). Complications included defecatory urgency (4.5% at 12 months), bleeding (3.6%), perineal sepsis (3.4%), and one case of rectovaginal fistula (0.05%).

CONCLUSION

The analysis of SIR data seems to confirm that STARR is a safe and effective procedure in the treatment of ODS. However, further studies are required to evaluate the long-term stability of results.