Changes in quality of life for patients with chronic venous insufficiency, present or healed leg ulcers

Abstract

Even though ulcer healing is an admirable goal, it does not necessarily lead to an improved QOL, probably because of the numerous comorbidities in this patient group. Nonetheless, it is important to control problems associated directly with the wound to allow ulcer patients to participate actively in everyday life and minimize social problems.

Chronic Venous Disease in Spain: Doctor–Patient Correlation

“…22,23 A further step included in several studies was to examine the association of the clinical signs and symptoms with QoL and with the eco-Doppler assessment; 24 it was concluded that the frequency of venous reflux increases with the CEAP C grade. There are also publications examining the relationship between CEAP and QoL, 25,26 including some with apparently contradictory results, 27 showing no differences between the QoL of patients with healed and active ulcers.…”

Depression and quality of life in patients with chronic wounds: ways to measure their influence and their effect on daily life

“…Renner et al 48 investigated changes in QoL for patients with chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) but without a history of ulceration, active, and healed leg ulcers due to CVI. They demonstrated by using the FLQA-w that in patients with active or healed ulceration pain assessment, physical complaints, and differences in everyday life are mostly agedependent but not dependent on the status of their leg ulcer.…”

The impact of compression garments on the quality of life in patients with chronic venous disease

“…However, there are also reports which do not seem as enthusiastic. Renner et al [15] did not find a statistically significant improvement in QoL even in patients (treated with compression garments) who had healed ulcerations. They attributed the result to the numerous comorbidities in the studied group.…”

“…Psychological problems are common in patients with CVD, most often taking the form of anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and social exclusion [12]. These issues are often ignored during traditional therapeutic procedures [13][14][15], whereas the full knowledge about the patient and their attitude to the disease and to the proposed treatment has a tremendous influence on maintaining the patient's compliance [10]. In this study, we observed that regular, properly performed short-term compression therapy significantly improved QoL in all its aspects in patients suffering from CVD.…”

“…The questions describe the functioning and QoL of the patient in terms of perceived pain (questions 1-4), physical acuity (questions 5-7, 9), social functioning (questions 8, 10, 11), and psychological condition (questions [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. According to the QoL research guidelines from 1996 [8], each of the 20 questions receives points on the Likert scale, ranging from 1 to 5.…”