INTRODUCTION - Urinary stone disease is a common and often recurrent condition that can affect kidney function and require a range of medical and surgical treatments, all of which can have a significant impact on patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and treatment preferences.
OBJECTIVE - To review the literature systematically for all studies that includes HRQoL measurement or patient preferences in the context of urinary stone disease.
METHODS - Ovid MEDLINE(R), Ovid MEDLINE(R) In-Process, EMBASE, SCOPUS, EconLit and Web of Science were searched from inception to January 2016. All study designs with adult participants were included. Narrative synthesis was performed.
RESULTS - Thirty-five studies met the inclusion criteria (six RCTs and 29 observational studies) from 15 countries, including 5472 patients. Eleven studies showed stone formers had worse HRQoL than the general population it was noted that stone formers were more likely to suffer with depression. Women have significantly lower HRQoL than men. Twenty-six studies used a generic HRQoL measure and six, non-validated disease-specific. Studies concerning patient preference were heterogeneous and showed that ESWL is still favoured above other interventions and that a large number of patients would prefer the treatment pathway to be decided upon by their clinician.
CONCLUSIONS - Urinary calculi and its treatment can have significant negative patient impact and influence patient preferences. Patients with stone disease tend to have worse physical and mental HRQoL, quantified using generic measures. Structured research with disease specific measures, underpinned by sound methodology would be beneficial and aid development of patient centric management. Systematic Review Registration: This review was prospectively registered with the international prospective register of systematic reviews - PROSPERO 2013:CRD42013006084.
Journal of endourology / Endourological Society. 2016 Apr 14 [Epub ahead of print]
Aditya Raja, Zara Hekamati, Hrishikesh Joshi
University Hospital of Wales, Urology, Cardiff, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland., Cardiff University, 2112, Pharmacy, Cardiff, Cardiff, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ; University Hospital of Wales, Urology, Cardiff, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.