Influence of quality of life related to perceived foot health between in a rural an urban population: A case-control research.

Foot problems are very common in the community. Studies indicate that between 18% and 63% of people have foot pain or stiffness and that foot problems have a large impact on people's functional decline and a significant detrimental impact on measures of quality of life related to health. The general objective of this research was to compare foot health in people from the rural population compared to people from the urban population and its relationship with quality of life. A case-control descriptive study was developed with a sample of 304 patients, 152 patients from the rural population and 152 patients from the urban population. Quality of life was measured through the SF-36 Health Questionnaire in its Spanish version. The rural population group had a mean age of 46.67 ± 13.69 and the urban population group 49.02 ± 18.29. Regarding the score of the lowest levels of quality of life related to foot problems, the rural population group compared to the urban population group showed: for body pain (52.21 ± 30.71 vs. 67.80 ± 25.28, p < 0.001); and for mental health (69.58 ± 18.98 vs. 64.60 ± 14.88, p < 0.006). Differences between groups were analysed using Student's t-test for independent samples, which showed statistical significance (p < 0.05). This research offers evidence that the rural population presents better levels of mental health and lower levels of bodily pain in the domains of the SF-36 Health Questionnaire comparing with the urban population.

Effect of foot health-related quality of life in rural population: A case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Foot health problems can affect quality of life and general health producing a source of discomfort and pain. Low levels of foot health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are present in patients with foot disabilities, such as hallux valgus, plantar fasciitis, or minor toe deformities. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to analyze the foot health status in patients with and without foot problems in a rural population and its relationship with quality of life. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A prospective case-control study was developed with a sample of 152 patients, 76 subjects with podiatric pathologies and 76 without, in a rural population. HRQoL was measured through the SF-36 Health Questionnaire in the Spanish version. RESULTS: The case group had a mean age of 49.18 ± 14.96 and the control group 44.16 ± 11.79. Regarding the score of the lowest levels of quality of life related to foot problems, the case group compared to the controls showed: for physical function (79.86 ± 26.38 vs. 92.63 ± 11 0.17, p < 0.001); for the physical role (73.68 ± 41.00 vs. 88.48 ± 27.51, p < 0.0022); for body pain (45.81 ± 27.18 vs. 73.68 ± 41.00, p < 0.035); and for general health (60.36 ± 30.58 vs. 68.71 ± 18.52, p < 0.047). The differences between groups were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test, which showed statistical significance (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In the rural population, people with foot pathologies present a worse quality of life compared to those who do not present foot pathology, especially for the health domains: physical function, physical role, body pain and health general.

"Translated and adaptation into Persian of the podiatric health questionnaire (PHQ)".

The Podiatric Health Questionnaire (PHQ) is a foot health psicometric tool consisting of six items for measuring foot health status. Currently, PHQ has been adapted into Spanish. Thus, this research focused on develop the Persian translation and adaptation of the PHQ. The translation into Persian and test-retest reliability methods were applied from english version questionnarie. As regards to the total mark for each sub-scale, internal consistency and reliability were determined by the Cronbach α and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) with a confidence interval (CI) of 95%. High internal consistency was shown for the six sub-scales: a) walk with a Cronbach α of 0.775; b) hygiene and c) nail care with 0.789 and 0.796 respectively; d) foot on pain with 0.779; e) concern domain with 0.788; and f) quality of life with 0.798; and g) visual analogic scale with 0.803. Excellent test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.912 [95% CI = 0.845-0.950]) was shown for the total score. Conclusions: The persian version of the PHQ was shown to be a valid and reliable tool for an acceptable use in the Iran population.