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Thromb Haemost 2003; 90(01): 27-35
DOI: 10.1055/s-0037-1613595
Review Article
Schattauer GmbH

Quality of life in venous disease

Inez van Korlaar
1   Unit of Psychology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
,
Carla Vossen
1   Unit of Psychology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
,
Frits Rosendaal
1   Unit of Psychology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
1   Unit of Psychology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
,
Linda Cameron
1   Unit of Psychology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
,
Edwin Bovill
1   Unit of Psychology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
,
Adrian Kaptein
1   Unit of Psychology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
› Author AffiliationsFinancial support: This research was supported by the NIH (grant PHS PO1 HL-46703-P2Y11), and by BIOMED II grant: BMHI-CT94-1565
Further Information

Publication History

Received 21 November 2002

Accepted after revision 07 April 2003

Publication Date:
07 December 2017 (online)

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Summary

Quality of life (QOL) can be defined as the functional effect of an illness and its consequent therapy upon a patient, as perceived by the patient. Studies on the impact of chronic venous disease on quality of life are scarce compared to quality of life research in other diseases. The purpose of this paper was to describe instruments that assess the quality of life in patients with chronic venous disease and to review the literature on this topic.

A computer search of the MedLine database was performed to identify papers; the bibliographies of relevant articles were reviewed to obtain additional papers. Papers were included if they described the development or use of a quality of life instrument for patients with chronic venous disease.

A total of 25 papers were identified that fit the inclusion criteria. The studies described in the papers used six different generic instruments and ten disease-specific instruments. Quality of life in chronic venous disease was assessed in 12 studies. Six studies compared different types of treatment for chronic venous disease where QOL was an outcome measure. Despite the wide variety of measures used, results indicate that the quality of life of patients with chronic venous disease is affected in the physical domain mostly with regard to pain, physical functioning and mobility, and that they suffer from negative emotional reactions and social isolation.

We feel that QOL should be a standard measure in future studies in patients with chronic venous disease, preferably with a combination of generic and disease-specific measures.

Keywords

Review - venous disease - quality of life - medical psychology
 

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