Effect of sanatorium treatment on quality of life of patients with disorders of the musculoskeletal system

Background. Motor organ dysfunctions belong to main reasons for disability. As the disease progresses, patients encounter more and more problems with everyday functioning, which lowers their subjective quality of life assessment. Objectives. The aim of this study was to evaluate influence of sanatorium treatment on the quality of life among patients with motor organ diseases. Material and methods. The study was conducted in 2011, and involved 150 sanatorium patients (69% of women; 31% of men) of the Health Care Centre Sanatorium of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration in Kolobrzeg. The mean age was 62 years (the age bracket of 38 to 85). The study was based on the standard SF-36 questionnaire, which was completed twice - before and after sanatorium treatment. Results. The study results show that the subjective quality of life assessment improved as a result of the sanatorium treatment. The greatest improvement was observed in role limitations due to physical health problems (role limitations physical (RP) - by 48.33%), emotional problems (role limitations emotional (RE) - by 47.06%) and bodily pain (BP - by 47.09%), and the least in general health (GH - by 3.59%). Gender considerably affected the subjective quality of life assessment: RP was reduced in women by 48.29%, in men by 19.78%; BP in women by 48.01%, in men by 20.79%; RE in women by 46.88%, in men by 15.70%. The greatest improvements in quality of life were observed among patients aged 49 years or younger (by 40.3%), and the smallest in patients aged 70 years or older - by 28.2%. Conclusions. 1. Patients with motor organ diseases assess their quality of life higher after sanatorium treatment. 2. The subjective quality of life improves more in women than in men. 3. The youngest patients were those who benefited most from the sanatorium treatment.