Quality of life of young adult patients after orthognathic surgery

M.B. Roman, A.M. Cybulska, K. Dowgierd, G. Wójcik, M. Stanisławska, E. Grochans

Department of Clinical Pediatrics, Head and Neck Surgery Clinic for Children and Young Adults, University of Warmia and Mazury, Olsztyn, Poland. anna.cybulska@pum.edu.pl

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• Surgery

OBJECTIVE: Craniofacial defects are functional imbalances of their structures. Impaired speech and facial deformities hinder adolescents’ ability to fulfill social roles. The optimal age for a patient to be qualified for orthognathic surgery is between 16 and 30 years.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study sample consisted of 65 patients after bimaxillary orthognathic surgery performed in the Head and Neck Surgery Department with Craniofacial Surgery Subdivision in Provincial Specialist Children’s Hospital in Olsztyn. The research tools used in the study were: the author’s questionnaire concerning sociodemographic data, and the following standardized questionnaires: the ‘How Do You Cope?’ questionnaire, the Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (INTE), the List of Personal Values (LOPV), the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS).

RESULTS: The study demonstrated a positive correlation between the levels of QoL and general life satisfaction according to the SWLS. A negative relationship was observed between QoL and dispositional coping according to the ‘How do you cope?’ questionnaire. The emotion-focused coping strategy in the category of dispositional coping negatively correlated with eight of the SF-36 domains.

CONCLUSIONS: Young adults after bimaxillary orthognathic procedures show a high level of QoL. The level of QoL depends, among others, on the level of emotional intelligence. Better ability to recognize emotions is associated with higher QoL in the domain of general health.

 

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