Quality of life of prosthetic and orthotic users in South India: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to compare QOL among people in India using lower-limb prostheses or orthoses with people without disability. A further aim was to compare subgroups and investigate whether QOL was associated with physical disability, gender, income, living area, and education. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire study in which the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Bref was used to collect self-reported data. A total of 277 participants from India were included, 155 with disability and 122 without. Group comparisons were conducted using the Mann-Whitney U and the Kruskal-Wallis tests and associations were explored using regression analyses of the four QOL domains: physical health, psychological, social relationships, and environment. Results: Participants with physical disability scored significantly lower than did participants without disability in three of the four QOL domains, i.e., physical health, (Median 14.29 vs 16.29; p