Amjad Mehmood, Abdul Qayum, Tariq Mehmood Mughal, Arshad Qureshi, Tariq Masood, Sardar Majeed Khan, Ehtisham-ul Haq.
Assessment of change in quality of life parameters (sf-36, flanagan) with treatment in patients with iron-deficiency anaemia.
Pak J Public Health Jan ;4(2):30-5.

Introduction: The study was carried out to quantitatively assess the effect of the disease on quality of life (QoL) of patients with iron-deciency anaemia (IDA), and also the change in QoL scores with treatment.We carried out a prospective study to explore the effect of anaemia on quality of life (QoL), and whether the treatment helps to improve QoL. Methods: The patients with conrmed iron-deciency anaemia were included in the study. Blood was analysed for full blood count, mean corpuscular volume, haemoglobin (Hb), ferritin, transferrin, transferrin saturation, and microscopic analysis of the blood lm. Iron deciency was dened if these parameters fell outside local reference values. The patients with background chronic illness, cancer and pregnancy were excluded from the study. A total of 128 patients were included in the study. The treatment was carried out by oral ferrous sulphate. QoL scores were estimated according to two scoring systems; SF-36 and Flanagan QoL score. All patients treated with iron were reviewed at three months to assess response to their treatment allocation. Response to the treatment was dened as full (Hb rise of more than 2 g/dL), partial (Hb rise of 1-1.9 g/dL), or no response (Hb change of less than 1 g/dL). Iron stores were assessed with a repeat ferritin level. Patients with a full or partial response to oral iron were continued on this treatment. Results: The generalized total SF-36 score prior to and after treatment was compared and considerable difference found. Pre-treatment Flanagan score was estimated to be 50±4.9, which increased to70.6±4.08 after treatment. The compliance to treatment was 100%. The compliance to adherence to in-time attendance for QoL protocol was 100%. Conclusions: The results have shown a benecial effect of treatment on QoL and underlines the necessity of substitution treatment at earlier stages even if symptoms are not compelling. (Pak J Public Health 2014; 4(2):22-27) Key-words: Iron deciency anaemia, quality of life, asymptomatic iron deciency, Flanagan score, SF-36 score

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