An evaluation of quality of life in amputee veterans in Mazandaran

Amputation is one of the most common motor disabilities. Physical, behavioral and mental disorders following amputation are the most serious problems of amputee veterans. We assessed the quality of life in Iranian amputee veterans in Mazandaran province in 2010. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. In this study the quality of life status of the participants was evaluated using a self-administered demographic questionnaire and a health survey questionnaire in the short form 36 (SF-36). 256 (44.52%) out of the 575 amputee veterans completed the questionnaire. The mean age of respondents was 46.44 ± 2.6 years ranging from 20 to 70. All participants were male. 94.9% were married and 78.8% had graduate diploma or were under diploma. According to the SF-36 the highest mean was related to mental health (54.35 ± 21) and the lowest mean was limitation in physical performance (36.42 ± 20.31). Only 4 out of 256 (1.6%) showed an excellent index for general health. It seems that the majority of the veterans lack an acceptable quality of life. This may be due to a shortage in receiving adequate rehabilitation and therapeutic services.