Comparison of Quality of Life of Patients with Hydrocele and Quality of Life of Patients with Inguinal Hernia

Introduction: Quality of life (QOL) is one measure of how much a disease has affected the life of a patient from his or her perspective. WHOQL 100 assesses QOL under six domains and 24 facets along with overall quality of life. It was translated to Sinhala and was validated. QOL of hydrocele patients as well as inguinal hernia patients is expected to be lower than normal. Method: Ethical clearance was obtained from the ethical review committee of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, WHOQOL 100 was self administered to patients admitted for hydrocelectomy or herniotomy before surgery and by-standers in surgical ward as the control. Results: There were 23 males subjects in each category. The mean ages and SDs were 43.8±12.9 (Hydrocele), 44.4±14.0 (Control) and 43.7±11.9 (Hernia). QOL score of physical capacity (66.4±9.7 and 78.0±12.1; p=0.001), psychological (65.5±15.4 and 78.0±9.5; p=0.002) and level of independence (67.7±14.3 and 76.5±12.7; p=0.033) domains of hydrocele patients were significantly lower than those of the control. QOL scores of social relation were significantly lower in hydrocele patients than in hernia patients (60.1±15.5 and 71.5±14.4; p=0.014). Conclusions: QOL of hydrocele patients were lower than normal. Physical, psychological and level of independence are more affected than the other aspects of QOL. Psychological aspects of the QOL are lower in hydrocele patients than in patients with hernia. Assessment of QOL using WHOQOL 100 can be considered as a valid tool to find out the impact of hydrocele on different aspects health.