Quality of life of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

The aim of this study is to evaluate the correlation between different measures of quality of life (QoL), functional status and mood status in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). A sample of 40 patients with ALS was recruited and scales for the evaluation of health-related QoL (SF36), patient-centered QoL (SEIQoL), functional status (ALSFRS) and depression (ZDS) have been administered to them. All the correlations (Pearson's r) between the scores have been considered and the t-test was performed in order to compare male with female patients. No correlation emerged between the different measures of QoL and functional status, apart from the scores of the Physical Functioning subscale of the SF36 which resulted positively correlated (p < 0.01) with those of the ALSFRS. Mood status resulted negatively correlated with many aspects of health-related QoL but not with patient-centred QoL. Data suggest that the relationship between functional status and different domains of QoL in this population of patients with a severely compromising disease is not linear and that the satisfaction with life of the patients themselves is not strongly related to the level of physical impairment.