Quality of life amongst young adults with stroke living in Kenya

G Muli, A Rhoda

Abstract

Background: The world has been experiencing an increase of stroke among young adults. Occurrence of stroke in young adults dramatically affects the quality of life of the individuals.

Objectives: To investigate the quality of life amongst young adults who experienced a stroke living in Kenya.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on a conveniently  selected sample of 161 young adults with stroke drawn from three tertiary hospitals in Kenya. The Short-Form 36-item second version (SF-36v2) was used to collect the data. Descriptive and association statistical analysis using Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskal Wallis tests were calculated on the data using SPSS.

Results: In relation to a total score of 100, when expressed as a percentage the mean quality of life scores, ranged from 30% to 48% for each of the SF-36v2 domains. The results showed that males scored higher than females in all the domains except in physical functioning and that the scores decline with advance in age in most domains.

Conclusion: The quality of life scores for this group were low meaning that that they were experiencing more challenges with physical functioning, psychological and emotional functioning and fulfilling previous roles.

Key words: Young stroke patients, Quality of Life, Kenya