Comparison of the Quality of Life among Patients with Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura and Healthy People in Isfahan, Iran

Background: Quality of life has been used as an important tool to understand illnesses impact in recent decades. Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura is a chronic disease which affects the individuals’ quality of life. The present study was conducted to compare the quality of life among idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura patients’ with healthy people. Patients and Methods: This was a descriptive-comparative study with case and control groups. In this study, 64 randomly selected idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura patients referred to Seyed Al-Shohada Hospital, Isfahan, Iran, and the same number of healthy people from the patients’ neighborhood as the control group, were compared considering their quality of life. The data collection tool used was the World Health Organization Quality of Life- BREF questionnaire. Results: Our study results showed that 64.1% of studied cases were older than 35 years of age, 59.4% were women, and most of them had primary educational level (53.1%). The mean scores of physical, mental, and environmental dimensions of quality of life and the total mean score of quality of life were significantly lower among idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura patients (P < 0.001). However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of the mean score of the social dimension of quality of life (P = 0.2). Conclusion: Since quality of life among idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura patients is lower than that of healthy people, interventional therapeutic and care measures to promote quality of life among these patients seem necessary. Keywords: Quality of life, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, Iran.