Advances in Clinical and Experimental Medicine

Title abbreviation: Adv Clin Exp Med
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Advances in Clinical and Experimental Medicine

2018, vol. 27, nr 2, February, p. 229–236

doi: 10.17219/acem/66986

Publication type: original article

Language: English

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Social and medical determinants of quality of life and life satisfaction in women with Turner syndrome

Wacław Jeż1,A,B,C,D,F, Beata Tobiasz-Adamczyk2,A,C,F, Piotr Brzyski2,C,F, Mikołaj Majkowicz3,A,F, Piotr Pankiewicz4,D,F, Tomasz J. Irzyniec5,6,A,B,C,D,F

1 Outpatient Clinic for Women with Turner Syndrome, Specialist Hospital No. 2, Bytom, Poland

2 Chair of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland

3 Department of Quality of Life Research, Medical University of Gdańsk, Poland

4 Department of Adult Psychiatry, Medical University of Gdańsk, Poland

5 Department of Health Promotion and Community Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland

6 Department of Nephrology/ENDO, Hospital of Ministry of the Interior and Administration, Katowice, Poland

Abstract

Background. Turner syndrome (TS) appears in women as a result of the lack of part or the whole of one of the X chromosomes. It is characterized by the occurrence of low height, hypogonadism, numerous developmental defects, and is often accompanied by psychological disturbances.
Objectives. Although the phenotype characteristics of women with TS are quite well documented, the knowledge of the impact of Turner syndrome on the satisfaction with life is still insufficient. The aim of our study was to assess the impact of TS on selected variables of quality of life, and hence also life satisfaction in women with this syndrome.
Material and Methods. The research was carried out in a group of 176 women with TS starting March 1995. The patients underwent anthropological and medical examinations, and their medical histories were taken using a questionnaire that included demographic and psychosocial items as well as issues related to selected variables of quality of life. In our research model, general life satisfaction was a dependent variable. The statistical analysis was conducted using the eta and Cramer’s V correlation coefficients as well as a multidimensional logistic regression model.
Results. The main determinants of dissatisfaction with life in women with TS were short stature and feelings of loneliness and being handicapped.
Conclusion. The determinants of life satisfaction in women with Turner syndrome were closely related to the private life of the study participants, in particular self-perception and feelings concerning their health status.

Key words

education, life satisfaction, health-related quality of life, Turner syndrome, sexual sphere

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