Health-related quality of life in patients with chronic low back pain: effects of pain, clinical and functional status on quality of life

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is a major medical, social, and economic problem in both developed and developing countries. It often affects all life domains from fairly basic self-care activities to advance and complex social interactions, work, and leisure activities and eventually has a profound impact on quality of life. The aim of the study was planned to investigate the health-related quality of life with chronic low back pain patients and to examine the effect of clinical and activity levels of patients on the quality of life. Materials and Methods: Our study consisted of 400 patients who had a diagnosis of chronic low back pain in Orthopedics and Traumatology Department of DEU Medical Faculty Hospital. A total of 400 patients (200 male) and (200 female) were included, ranging in age from 18 to 62 years (mean ± SD 27.25 ± 10.68). Demographic data, occupational status, education status, body mass index (BMI). Pain were evaluated in our study. Visual analogue scale (VAS), functional status and quality of life were used in the Nottingham health profile questionnaire (NHP). Also the functional independence measures (FIM) were evaluated. Result: patients and control groups were examined according to demographic characteristics; There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of the sex ratios of the cases and the BMI values (p> 0.05). There was a statistically significant difference between groups in terms of age, occupation and educational status of the cases (p <0.05). The VAS, NHP scores of the patient group were statistically higher than the control group, age and VAS pain scores (p <0.05). The total FIM scores of the patient group were found to be statistically higher than the total FIM scores of the control group (p <0.05). With the VAS values of the cases; There was a statistically significant correlation between NHP scores in the positive direction and total FIM score values in the negative direction (p <0.05). There was a statistically significant correlation between total FIM scores and all other variables in the negative direction (p <0.05). Conclusion: In patients with chronic low back pain, the increase in pain severity resulted in a reduction in functional status and quality of life.