Questionnaire of quality of life in patients with primary hyperhidrosis

• Autor(a) principal: Campos,José Ribas Milanez de
• Data de Publicação: 2003
• Outros Autores: Kauffman,Paulo, Werebe,Eduardo de Campos, Andrade Filho,Laert Oliveira, Kuzniek,Sergio, Wolosker,Nelson, Jatene,Fábio Biscegli, Amir,Mariane
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Jornal de Pneumologia
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-35862003000400003
• topic: Thoracic sympathectomy; Quality of life

BACKGROUND: Hyperhidrosis or excessive sudoresis is a chronic disease associated with important subjective distress. OBJECTIVE: To propose a specific questionnaire to evaluate the quality of life of patients with hyperhidrosis. METHODS: From October 1995 to March 2002, 378 patients (234 females), with a mean age of 26.8 years, were evaluated before and after video-assisted thoracic sympathectomy. RESULTS: Therapeutic success was obtained in 90% of the procedures. The recurrence rate was 10% for palmar and 11% for axillary hyperhidrosis; 27% of the patients who had recurrence were re-operated successfully. No serious complications were reported. Of the total number of patients, 91% answered to the quality of life questionnaire, and 86% of them reported improvement after the procedure. CONCLUSIONS: Thoracic sympathectomy is a therapeutic method capable of changing the quality of life of patients with hyperhidrosis. The questionnaire applied has shown these changes.