Brucella Olgularında Ağrı Prevalansı ve Yaşam Kalitesinin Değerlendirilmesi

Abstract

Objective: Pain is an inevitable symptom in Brucellosis, which causes a wide clinical spectrum. In this study, we aimed to examine the effect of pain on presence, severity, localization, analgesic intake and quality of life in patients diagnosed with Brucella.
 Materail and Methods: Patients diagnosed with Brucella based on clinical and laboratory findings were included in the study. Age, gender, clinical stage of Brucella, organ involvement, serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level and standard tube agglutination test (STA) titer of the patients were recorded. The Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and the Turkish Version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale Short Form (WHOQOL-BREF-TR) were administered face-to-face to the patients.
 Results: The median age of 92 Brucella patients included in the study was 40.5 years. 54.3% of the patients were male and 45.7% were female. At admission, 57.6% were acute, 31.5% subacute, and 10.9% chronic. Organ involvement was present in 31.5% of the patients. At the time of diagnosis, 89.1% of the patients had pain complaints. Pain localization was most frequently in the knee, back, hip and shoulder, respectively. 51.1% of the patients were using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) at least once a day. There was no statistically significant correlation between age, disease stage, organ involvement, serum CRP level and STA titer and WHOQOL-BREF and VAS measurement values. WHOQOL-BREF Psychological (p=0.003) and WHOQOL-BREF Social (p=0.008) measurement values were found to be higher in women than men.
 Discussion and Conclusion : Pain is a common symptom in Brucella patients. Regardless of age, laboratory parameters and organ involvement, pain in Brucella patients should be questioned at all clinical stages. It affects the quality of life and may cause undesirable side effects by causing frequent painkiller intake.