Assessment of HRQoL and its Determinants for Kidney Stone Formers

Abstract Background Quality of life is the central health-improving goal. Urolithiasis is a complex disease significantly related to disease-related morbidity and impacting patient’s health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The study aims to evaluate the HRQoL and markers of HRQoL of kidney stone formers using a disease-specific instrument. Methods We compared the HRQoL of kidney stone formers with healthy individuals using Wisconsin stone quality of life (WISQoL) questionnaire. A prospective, cross-sectional, case-control study was conducted at different urological settings of Rawalpindi. Result Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) analysis depicted that compared with healthy individuals stone formers reported statistically significant (p = 0.000) differences in HRQoL in overall health and all the domains of WISQoL i.e. social, emotional, disease impact and impact on vitality. Further regression analysis evaluated that demographic factors, clinical features of the disease and surgical procedure for active removal of stone are also determinants of QoL of stone formers (p < 0.05). Conclusion It was concluded that urolithiasis is compromising the patient’s quality of life in all major domains of health and WISQoL was proved to be a reliable disease-specific instrument for the assessment of HRQoL of kidney stone patients.