Hereditary pancreatitis is characterized by episodes of pancreatic inflammation accompanied by unrelenting abdominal pain, usually beginning in childhood. Therefore, this emerging population of individuals is affected with a chronic pain condition affecting global quality of life. A multidisciplinary approach, including psychosocial and behavioral factors, is necessary to elicit responses to and treat chronic pain. Improving overall quality of life is an important outcome of interventions for chronic conditions. Health-related quality of life reflects an individual's physical and mental well-being. This study documents the pain levels and quality of life of individuals with both hereditary and sporadic pancreatitis. Data from 73 individuals with hereditary pancreatitis and 271 individuals with sporadic pancreatitis who participated in the Hereditary Pancreatitis Study and the North American Pancreatitis Study 2 were examined for this study. The questionnaires addressed each subject's report of quality of life, severity and duration of pain, alcohol use, tobacco use, and diagnosis of diabetes. Patient responses were analyzed using a battery of comparative analyses. The SF-122 health survey was analyzed using an algorithm for standardizing and weighting the physical and mental health scores. Pain and quality of life measures were compared to each other, as well as to several commonly measured environmental influences on health using correlation analysis, regression analysis, and the Mann-Whitney U test. As hypothesized, individuals with familial pancreatitis reported worse pain and poorer overall quality of life than individuals with sporadic pancreatitis. Factors influencing the measure of pain include the duration, severity, frequency, and character. Other findings include correlations between (a) physical quality of life and gender, smoking, and alcohol, (b) pain and age, and (c) pain frequency and tobacco and alcohol use. This study provides information that can potentially assist health care professionals who work with individuals with pancreatitis and chronic pain, and who are assessing the necessity of psychosocial intervention or support services.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04112006-122316 |
| Date | 26 June 2006 |
| Creators | Marshall, Megan L |
| Contributors | M. Michael Barmada, PhD, Erin Fink, MS, John Wilson, PhD, David C Whitcomb, MD, PhD |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04112006-122316/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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