Assessment of the Quality of Life of Patients with Mycobacterial Pulmonary Diseases

Introduction: Mycobacteria pulmonary diseases are chronic illnesses with various impacts on patients’ health status, and wellbeing. These diseases currently represent a global health issue due to increasing burdens and the lack of new development on therapeutic options. Policies based on the quality of life may help to improve the management of this chronic respiratory disease; this study was designed to assess the quality of life of patients treated for the pulmonary mycobacterial disease. Materials and Methods: Participants diagnosed with a mycobacterial pulmonary disease were selected from the University Clinical Research Centers’ (UCRC) 2019 mycobacterial cohort database. A telephone interview was conducted using the Medical Outcome Study Short Form (SF-36) which has 36 items evaluating physical and mental wellbeing. Scores range from 0 - 100, with higher scores indicating greater Health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS 23.0 and the Fisher test was used to compare percentages. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: A hemoglobin was 11.8 ± 2.2 g/dl. The mean SF-36 score was 75.1 ± 16.6, and impairment was mainly related to mental problems in 59.6%. The mean total score was significantly lower with age more than 42 years than age less than 42 years. But HIV positive and BMI less than 18.5 do not lead to a significant change of mean total score. Conclusion: Patients with mycobacterial pulmonary diseases have more psychological problems than physical ones. Hence the importance of psychological support in their management to improve their quality of life. A large sample size with a deep interview component would be necessary to address limitations in this design.