Health-Related Quality of Life in Children after Surgical Repair of Esophageal Atresia: A Single Tertiary Center Cross-sectional Study

Abstract Objective To investigate health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of in postoperative esophageal atresia (EA) patients and to identify its potential influencing factors. Methods A total of 102 EA children who had previously visited our hospital participated in this cross-sectional study. Basic data and disease data of the patients were collected. The HRQOL was assessed by Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory TM 4.0 (PedsQL TM 4.0) and EA-QOL questionnaire. The scores of PedsQL TM 4.0 were calculated and compared with demographically matched healthy control group. The HRQOL of EA was analyzed by the specific scale EA-QOL-questionnaire. We calculated the overall score and each domain scores, and determined related factors that influenced the HRQOL in children with EA by using a multivariate analysis of variance Results The group of EA and control reached a similar score in the generic PedsQL TM 4.0 (EA group: 89.41 ± 6.54; control: 89.41 ± 6.54; p = 0.670). There was no significant difference between the EA group and the control group in other domains except the school functioning. 65 parents completed the EA-QOL-questionnaire for children aged 2 to 7 years, who had highest score in social isolation & stress domain and lowest score in physical health & treatment domain, and other domain in the middle, with an overall quality of life score of 83.48 ± 10.22; 37 children the EA-QOL-questionnaire for children 8 to 17 years. Scores were relatively high in social relationships and health & well-being and lowest in eating domain, with an overall quality of life score of 89.43 ± 8.57. Heart malformation, complicated esophageal surgery history, respiratory symptoms and digestive symptoms in the past 1 month were the main factors affecting HRQOL of children aged 2–7 years. Complicated esophageal surgery history, respiratory symptoms and digestive symptoms in the past 1 month were the main factors affecting the HRQOL of children aged 8–17 years. Conclusions This study provides the first evaluation of HRQOL in the Chinses EA patients. The findings presented here suggest that patients with EA generally have a good quality of life after surgery. However, EA children with postoperative complications and associated symptoms have lower scores in the EA-QOL questionnaire. In the future, we should pay more attention to the application of specific scales and conduct timely intervention for those patients with low quality of life.