Quality of Life in Patients with Stoma

Objective: To determine the quality of life of patients with stoma at tertiary care Hospital. Methodology: This prospective study has been conducted at the general surgery department, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences hospital Islamabad (PIMS). The study was conducted from September 2019 to February 2020. All the patients having age more than 12 years, underwent intestinal stoma formation and either gender were included for study. Patients were interviewed regarding their routine activities after stoma and the impact of it on their social life including working status, sexual activities and life satisfaction. All the information of patients including demographic data was documented via self-derived proforma. Analysis of data was done by SPSS version 20. Results: Total 46 patients were studied having a stoma and were interviewed regarding their quality of life. The patient's mean age was 44.93+6.78 years. Out of all 34.8% were working currently and rest of the patients were still on bed rest.  34.8% were satisfied with sexual life. 71.7% were depressed after stoma surgery and 52.2% were hopeful about their future. 63% were socialised with peoples as before, 58.7% replied that stoma has affected their recreational activities and 52.2% answered that they can’t travel in any way. However according to overall satisfaction, 32.6% of patients were disagreeing, 34.8% were agreeing and 30.4% were undecided. Conclusion: It was concluded that almost half of the patients were satisfied and they are performing social and daily life activities however almost half of the patients needed psychological, financial, and relative support. Key words: Stoma, Quality of life