[Quality of life of chemically-disabled war veterans involved in pulmonary complications of sulfur mustard gas in Sardasht]

ABSTRACT

Chemical gases, particularly Sulfur Mustard, have a negative impact on physical, psychological, social and spiritual aspects of quality of life of those suffering from this gas. It is so serious that even 20 years after being exposed to Sulfur Mustard, we can witness people who are still suffering from various damages of organs particularly the pulmonary system. This research aimed at determining the quality of life of chemically-disabled war veterans with pulmonary complications of Sulfur Mustard from physical, social, psychological, and spiritual aspects. This was a descriptive study in which 260 chemically-disabled war veterans living in Sardasht, Iran then, were randomly selected for the study. It should be mentioned that all these people are now treated as chemically-disabled war veterans suffering from the pulmonary complications of Sulfur Mustard Gas and were living in Sardasht at the time of bombardment of that city. Having been acquainted with the procedure, they were then asked to fill in the questionnaires. The results showed that quality of life in 71.5% of the samples was moderate, only in 5.8%, it was considered as good. 11.9% of them in physical domain, 8.1% in psychological domain, 1.9% in social domain, and 22.8% in spiritual domain had a good quality of life. Based on the findings, the quality of life in the social, physical and psychological domains was 1.9%, 11.9% and 8.1% poor, therefore; responsible organizations can help these people in various ways by, for example, providing them with low price drugs, which are usually costly in the market, public transportation designed especially for chemically-disabled war veterans, improving insurance services and developing public services in Sardasht. The researchers, finally suggests a qualitative study be performed on each domain of quality of life of chemically-disabled war veterans