Introduction: Temporary or permanent ostomy creation can sometimes be mandatory in a variety of urgent or elective situations. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the problems faced by patients with different types of intestinal stomas by using a stoma quality of life scale.
Material and methods: The quality of life (QoL) of 61 patients with an ostomy (colostomy, ileostomy) who underwent operation at our hospital was identified from our outpatient registry. A trained research nurse administered a questionnaire with socio-demographic variables including age, gender, area of residence, marital status, education and clinical variables including type of stoma, median years since surgery and underlying disease and a Stoma Quality of Life Scale. The scores based on the answers were calculated and statistical analysis was performed.
Results: The participants answered almost all questions apart from a few patients who preferred not to score sexuality/body image questions. People with a colostomy have significantly worse QoL scores due to skin irritation (p = 0.019). There is no statistically significant difference between patients with an ileostomy and a colostomy with respect to QoL scales apart from the financial impact controlling for age (p = 0.041). The younger patients had significantly less financial concern than older patients given their ostomy type. Multiple regression results indicate that skin irritation decreases significantly as ostomy time increases (p = 0.044). The life satisfaction of patients is considerably affected and has dropped significantly since last month (p < 0.001).
Conclusions: Bearing in mind our limited patient data we can suggest that a stoma affects a patient’s QoL considerably and an ileostomy has a slight advantage for patients’ QoL in terms of skin irritation compared to the patients with a colostomy.