Quality of life in war related spinal cord injured women

To assess health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in women who had suffered spinal cord injuries in the Iran-Iraq war (l980-1988).

A total of 35 female patients who had suffered spinal cord injury (SCI) in the war were entered into the study. Patients who gave their consent to participate in the study were asked to complete The Shott Form of Health Survey questionnaire (SF-36).

The study achieved a response rate of 60% (21/35). The mean age of participants was 41.95 (SD=l2.9) years (ranging from 17 to 62 years): 57.7% of the subjects were single and 28.6% were married. Compared to the normal population, quality of life was significantly lower in all subscales (p<0.05) studied except for Vitality (VI) and Role Functioning (RP).

The study showed that spinal cord injury was associated with a significant decline in quality of life.