@article{ref1,
title="Health-related quality of life 6 months after burns among hospitalized patients: predictive importance of mental disorders and burn severity",
journal="Burns: journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries",
year="2015",
author="Palmu, Raimo and Partonen, Timo and Suominen, Kirsi and Saarni, Samuli I. and Vuola, Jyrki and Isometsä, Erkki",
volume="41",
number="4",
pages="742-748",
abstract="RATIONALE: Major burns are likely to have a strong impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We investigated the level of and predictors for quality of life at 6 months after acute burn. <br><br>METHODS: Consecutive acute adult burn patients (n=107) admitted to the Helsinki Burn Centre were examined with a structured diagnostic interview (SCID) at baseline, and 92 patients (86%) were re-examined at 6 months after injury. During follow-up 55% (51/92) suffered from at least one mental disorder. The mean %TBSA was 9. TBSA of men did not differ from that of women. Three validated instruments (RAND-36, EQ-5, 15D) were used to evaluate the quality of life at 6 months. <br><br>RESULTS: All the measures (RAND-36, EQ-5, 15D) consistently indicated mostly normal HRQoL at 6 months after burn. In the multivariate linear regression model, %TBSA predicted HRQoL in one dimension (role limitations caused by physical health problems, p=0.039) of RAND-36. In contrast, mental disorders overall and particularly major depressive disorder (MDD) during follow-up (p-values of 0.001-0.002) predicted poor HRQoL in all dimensions of RAND-36. HRQoL of women was worse than that of men. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Self-perceived HRQoL among acute burn patients at 6 months after injury seems to be mostly as good as in general population studies in Finland. The high standard of acute treatment and the inclusion of small burns (%TBSA<5) in the cohort may partly explain the weak effect of burn itself on HRQoL. Mental disorders strongly predicted HRQoL at 6 months.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0305-4179",
doi="10.1016/j.burns.2014.11.006",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.burns.2014.11.006"
}