Quality of life among out-patients with long-term indwelling urinary catheter attending Urology Clinic at a Tertiary Hospital in Northwestern Tanzania

Abstract

Abstract Background This study aimed to determine quality of life (QoL) among patients living with long-term indwelling urinary catheter (IUC) at home in the Northwestern Tanzania. To the best of our knowledge for the first time in Africa, we report on quality of life for patients living with a long-term IUC at home. Methods This was a descriptive cross‑sectional study conducted between December 2016 and September 2017. A total of 202 out-patients aged 18 years and above living with a long-term IUC were conveniently recruited. The QoL was determined using WHOQOL‑BREF tool. Quantitative data were entered into Microsoft Excel for cleaning and coding, then into STATA software version 13.0 for analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to compute means and standard deviations for numerical variables as well as frequencies for nominal and ordinal variables. Significance of association between various variables and QoL were tested using t test with equal variances. Inferential statistics applied included an independent sample’s t‑test for comparing numerical socio-demographic variables. A P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The mean score indicating good QoL according to our study is a mean score of 50 and above. The higher the score the higher the QoL. Results Median age of participants was 69 (IQR 61–77) years. Majority of participants were males (195, 96.5%), married (187, 92.6%), and having primary education (116, 57.3%). Generally, the QoL was poor in all the domains: mean score for physical health being 36.67 ± 0.89, psychological 29.54 ± 0.87, social relationship 49.59 ± 1.61, and environment 26.05 ± 0.63. Married participants were slightly better under social domain 51.1 ± 1.6 than singles 31.1 ± 5.4; P-value 0.001. Those with primary education & above were slightly better in environmental domain 26.1 ± 0.7 than those with no formal education 23.5 ± 1.5; P-value 0.039. Conclusion QoL of participants with a long-term IUC in Northwestern Tanzania is generally poor in all domains. Those with primary education & above and the married were slightly better in environmental and social domains respectively. We recommend on the needs of improved social economic status and the importance of close follow up at home for the married participants living with long-term IUC.