Improvement in Quality of Life for Six Pregnant Patients Undergoing Chiropractic Care: The Promise of PROMIS
Joel Alcantara, DC Bio & Jeanne Ohm, DC Bio
Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health – Chiropractic ~ Volume 2013 ~ Issue 1 ~ Pages 11-14
Abstract
Introduction: The use of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measures in chiropractic pregnant patients remains virtually non-existent. In this paper pregnant patients are characterized showcasing the use of the NIH PROMIS program to determine baseline HRQoL measures.
Methods: In addition to describing sociodemographic and clinical data, patient-centered outcomes measures utilizing the PROMIS-29 Profile V1.0 are demonstrated.
Results: Six pregnant patients (average age=33.33 years) with average parity at 0.33 and mean gestation of 20 weeks are described. Their primary caregivers were obstetrician/gynecologists, nurse-midwives and midwives. All were aware of concurrent chiropractic care. The patients presented with NMS complaints and for wellness care. The PROMIS scoring demonstrated the dynamic nature of the HRQoL domains in pregnant patients with improvements (i.e., fear/anxiety, pain interference and satisfaction with social roles) and decrements (i.e., physical functioning and sleep disturbance) in HRQoL domains.
Discussion: Evidence-informed practice expects that some aspect of chiropractic patients’ HRQoL measures will have demonstrable improvements. The use of PROMIS within a chiropractic Practice Based Research Network (PBRN) offers promise in this regard.
Conclusion: Pregnant patients attending chiropractic care within a PBRN are characterized using PROMIS HRQoL measures. The use of valid outcome measures to demonstrate chiropractic effectiveness should be further implemented in research and practice.
Keywords: Chiropractic, Practice Based Research Network, pregnancy, Health-related quality of life, PROMIS
