Quality of Life of Nigerians with Unilateral Lower Limb Amputation

Purpose: The aims of this study were to determine the QoL of Nigerians with lower limb amputation and to investigate the influence of some clinical and socio-demographic variables on it.

Method: Forty-seven individuals with lower limb amputation participated in this study. Participants’ age, gender, marital status, occupation, time since amputation, level of amputation, affected limb and use of prosthesis were recorded. Quality of life was then measured using the WHO QOL-BREF. Data were analysed using mean and standard deviation, Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test at 0.05 alpha levels.

Results: Participants’ overall health and QoL scores were 3.6(SD 0.9) and 3.9(SD 0.7) respectively. Male subjects had significantly higher scores than females in the domains of physical health (p = 0.007), social relationships (p = 0.024) and overall health (p = 0.012). Prosthesis-wearing subjects scored significantly higher in the domains of physical health (p = 0.015), psychological health (p = 0.008) and environment (p = 0.011) and overall health (0.033), than those not wearing prosthesis. Level of amputation, leg dominance and pre-amputation occupational category had no significant influence on participants’ QoL.

Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that the QoL of individuals with lower limb amputation in Nigeria is moderate. The only factors which have significant influence on some QoL domains are gender and use of prosthesis.

Implications: Individuals with lower limb amputation, particularly females and those not wearing prosthesis, require special attention. Clinicians should identify barriers to the use of prosthesis so as to enhance their quality of life.