The relationship between severity of hemorrhoid symptoms and quality of life in Postpartum Women with Grade I and II Internal Hemorrhoid

The hemorrhoid is referred to dilated parts of the anal canal veins, which help to control fecal excretion and is one of the most common digestive diseases. Since postpartum problems such as hemorrhoid have significant effect on physical health and psychological well-being, lactation, baby care, and communication with family and society and affect the health of mothers and children, and considering the importance of postpartum quality of life, and due to the limited studies in this field, this study was performed with aim to determine the association between the severity of hemorrhoid symptoms and quality of life in women with grade I and II internal hemorrhoids during postpartum period. This cross-sectional study was performed in 2017 on 131 women in postpartum period in Tehran. Clinical Therapeutic Clinical Evaluation Questionnaire and World Health Organization Quality of Life were used to collect data on hemorrhoid symptoms and quality of life. Data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 21) and Pearson and Spearman tests. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. The highest and lowest mean score of quality of life was obtained in the sub-domains of environmental health and physical health, respectively. The lowest and the highest mean score for hemorrhoid symptoms was related to the symptoms of itching and the negative effect of hemorrhoids on the health of women. There was a significant negative correlation between the overall quality of life score with all the symptoms of hemorrhoids except pruritus (r = -0.2 to r = -0.28, p <0.05). There was also significant negative correlation between the symptoms of swelling in the anus and dimensions of social health (r = 0.24, p = 0.006) and environmental health (r = 0.20, p = 0.02) with the quality of life. There was also a negative and significant correlation between the symptom of discomfort in the anus and the subtype of physical health of the quality of life (p = 0.04, p = 0.18). None of the socio-demographic characteristics had a significant relationship with quality of life (p >0.05). The symptoms of hemorrhoids have negative effect on the quality of life in postpartum period.