HEALTH RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE FOLLOWING ALLOGENIC STEM CELL TRANSPLANTATION IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL OF RAWALPINDI CITY

Abstract

Bone marrow transplantation is an extended medical process, and many people experience a variety of physical, biological, emotional and social challenges during treatment and recovery. The aim of our cross-sectional study was to determine health related quality of life of hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients.Our study comprised 32 bone marrow transplant patients selected through consecutive non-probability sampling; their data were collected at six month post-transplantation. The (FACT-BMT) questionnaire was used to assess HRQOL. Cronbach’s alpha was determined to be 0.97. We also evaluated the patients' demographic and clinical characteristics to determine the relative contributions of these factors to health-related quality of life. As evidenced by our results, the recipients reported a mean overall HRQOL of 148.3(±35.50) at sixth month post-transplant. The subscale score reported for additional concerns (BMTS) was highest 68.06 (±16.83) and that for emotional well-being was lowest 18.46(±4.81). Effect of HRQOL on factors of Age (p=0.022), diagnosis (p=0.003) and socioeconomic status (p= 0.05) were found to be statistically significant. Patients of young age group and those diagnosed with aplastic anemia had better outcomes