Health-Related Quality of Life of Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department with a Musculoskeletal Disorder

Abstract

Rose Gagnon,1,2 Kadija Perreault,1,2 Jason R Guertin,3,4 Simon Berthelot,4– 6 Bertrand Achou,7 Luc J Hébert1,2,8 1Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration (Cirris), Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux (CIUSSS) de La Capitale-Nationale, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; 2Department of Rehabilitation, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; 3Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; 4Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec – Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; 5Department of Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; 6CHU de Québec – Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; 7HEC Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; 8Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, CanadaCorrespondence: Luc J Hébert, Cirris, CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale, 525 Boulevard Wilfrid-Hamel, H-1410, Quebec City, Quebec, G1M 2S8, Canada, Tel [phone] ext 6579, Email [email protected]: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSKDs) are among the most disabling and costly non-fatal health conditions. They may lead to long-term consequences such as chronic pain, physical limitations, and poorer quality of life. They also account for a significant proportion of emergency department visits, representing between 18% and 25% of all visits, depending on country.Purpose: To assess the health-related quality of life of patients presenting to the emergency department with a MSKD, to convert their answers to utility scores and to explore the association between diverse socio-demographic and clinical variables and patients’ health-related quality of life.Patients and Methods: This is an analysis of cross-sectional data obtained during the baseline assessment performed as part of a 6-month pragmatic randomized controlled trial conducted in an academic emergency department. We included patients aged 18– 80 years with a minor MSKD. The main outcome measures were health-related quality of life (five dimensions: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression) and utility scores (− 0.148 – worse than death, 0 – dead, 0.949 – perfect health) measured with the EQ-5D-5L. Possible associations were explored by comparing scores across subgroups based on certain socio-demographic (eg, age, gender, triage score) and clinical factors (eg, pain interference on function, pain intensity) and with reference values using descriptive statistics (mean, median), rankFD ANOVAs, and χ2 tests.Results: Sixty-nine participants completed the EQ-5D-5L. Mean and median utility scores were, respectively, 0.536 (95% CI: 0.479– 0.594) and 0.531 (IQR: 0.356– 0.760). Participants with higher levels of pain ( 7/10: 0.433, 0.347– 0.518) or pain interference on function ( 7/10: 0.294, 0.126– 0.463) presented significantly lower utility scores. No significant differences were found for other socio-demographic characteristics.Conclusion: In patients with MSKDs who present to the emergency department, higher levels of pain or pain interference are associated with decreased health-related quality of life. These findings need to be confirmed on a larger scale.Keywords: EQ-5D-5L, quality of life, pain, emergency services, musculoskeletal disorders

Keywords

• eq-5d-5l
• quality of life
• pain
• emergency services
• musculoskeletal disorders