Quality of life, symptoms and treatment satisfaction in patients with aortic aneurysm-specific patient-reported outcome measures

Background
The aim of this study was to present preliminary data on quality of life (QoL), symptoms and treatment satisfaction gathered using three new abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA)-specific patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs).

Methods
Patients with AAA were recruited from five National Health Service Trusts to complete the three new PROMs: the AneurysmDQoL, AneurysmSRQ and AneurysmTSQ. Patients were either under surveillance or had undergone AAA repair (open or endovascular) during the preceding 24 months. Data were initially collected as part of a study assessing the psychometric properties of the new measures, before being used in the observational analysis of outcomes presented here.

Results
Results, although largely non-significant, showed interesting trends. The impact of AAA repair on QoL appeared to worsen progressively after open repair (OR) and improve progressively after endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). Conversely, symptoms seemed to become progressively worse after EVAR and progressively better after OR. Information and understanding were key sources of dissatisfaction before the intervention, whereas postoperative dissatisfaction was related to bother from symptoms, follow-up and feedback about scan results.

Conclusion
Although a larger, prospective data set is necessary to explore outcomes more fully with the new AAA-specific PROMs, the observational data presented here suggest there may be clinically important differences in the symptoms, impact on QoL and treatment satisfaction associated with OR and EVAR.