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One year symptom severity and health-related quality of life changes among Black African patients undergoing uterine fibroid embolisation.

Mariara, C; Obura, T; Hacking, N; Stones, W (2017) One year symptom severity and health-related quality of life changes among Black African patients undergoing uterine fibroid embolisation. BMC Res Notes, 10 (1). p. 240. ISSN 1756-0500 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-017-2558-0
SGUL Authors: Stones, Robert William

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: The main aim in the treatment of symptomatic fibroids by various modalities including uterine fibroid embolisation (UFE) is to alleviate symptoms and ultimately improve the quality of life. The efficacy of this modality of treatment in Black African women with significant fibroid burden and large uterine volumes is not clear. The main objective of the study was to examine potential changes in symptom severity among Black African patients 1 year following UFE for symptomatic uterine fibroids in a resource-constrained setting, rated using a validated questionnaire (UFS-QOL). Secondary outcomes examined were changes in quality of life and potential associations with age, parity, uterine volume and fibroid number prior to UFE. Additional interventions after UFE were also recorded. METHODS: A prospective before and after study of Black African patients undergoing UFE was undertaken. Participants underwent pelvic MR imaging prior to UFE and completed the UFS-QOL, a validated condition-specific questionnaire at baseline and at 1 year. Ninety five participants were recruited and data from 80 completing 1 year of follow up were available for analysis of changes in the symptom severity scores. RESULTS: The mean reduction in symptom severity score was 29.6 [95% CI 23.6 to 35.6, P < 0.001] and the mean improvement in HRQOL score was 35.7 [95% CI 28.4 to 42.9, P < 0.001]. A greater number of fibroids identified prior to UFE was associated with a more substantial improvement in symptom severity score (rs = 0.28, n = 80, P = 0.013) and participants of higher parity reported a greater improvement in HRQOL score (r = 0.336, P = 0.002). Major and minor surgical interventions were needed in 5 (6.3%) and 10 (12.5%) participants respectively. CONCLUSIONS: UFE is associated with clinically useful and statistically significant symptom relief in Black African patients. Symptom improvement following UFE is not compromised by a large fibroid burden and the rate of subsequent intervention is within an acceptable range. UFE is a safe alternative and efforts are needed to widen access to this non-surgical treatment modality.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: © The Author(s) 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Keywords: Health-related quality of life (HRQOL), Symptom severity, Uterine fibroid embolisation (UFE), Uterine fibroid symptom and quality of life questionnaire (UFS-QOL), Bioinformatics, 1199 Other Medical And Health Sciences
SGUL Research Institute / Research Centre: Academic Structure > Molecular and Clinical Sciences Research Institute (MCS)
Journal or Publication Title: BMC Res Notes
ISSN: 1756-0500
Language: eng
Dates:
DateEvent
4 July 2017Published
19 June 2017Accepted
Publisher License: Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
PubMed ID: 28676073
Go to PubMed abstract
URI: https://openaccess.sgul.ac.uk/id/eprint/108922
Publisher's version: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-017-2558-0

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