Physical HRQoL improves over time in vascular malformation

Despite suffering from vascular malformations, patients see improvements over time in the physical domain of their health-related quality of life (HRQoL), a recent study has found.

The study included 111 patients (median age 27.0 years, 42.3 percent men) who had HRQoL measurements at baseline using the Short Form 36-item questionnaire (SF-36). At baseline, 86.5 percent (n=96) had venous malformations. Eighty patients were available for follow-up, 72.5 percent (n=58) of whom had received invasive treatment, while 27.5 percent (n=22) underwent conservative or no treatment.

Over a median follow-up of 7.9 years, the researchers detected significant improvements in role limitations due to (RLDT) physical problems (B, 13.5, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.6–25.3) and bodily pain (B, 11.3, 95 percent CI, 3.8–18.8). Invasive treatment induced improvements in these domains, while no such effect was reported for conservative treatments.

Women, those with muscle or bone improvement, and those with subcutaneous lesions saw greater improvements in RLDT physical problems over time. In addition, RLDT emotional problems improved greatly in older patients.

Multivariate analysis found that at baseline, those who underwent invasive treatments had significantly lower SF-36 scores, particularly in the RLDT physical problems, emotional problems, and bodily pain domains.

“The study was limited by a relatively small sample size, and there are reports indicating that SF-36 may be unresponsive to changes in HRQoL in this patient group. However, we think the results add knowledge regarding long-term prognosis in both invasively treated and conservatively [treated or] untreated patients,” the researchers said.