The scale includes items (questions) which are analyzed separately: Question 1: concerning the individual overall perception of quality of life; Question 2: concerning the individual general perception of health [14] and [16]. Analyses of internal consistency, discriminant validity, and construct validity suggest the WHOQOL-BREF is a psychometrically strong measure of quality of life. Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.63 (social relationships) to 0.76 (physical health) in this research. The measure has been used

internationally to research subjective quality of life in individuals with myelomeningocele. The study was approved by the Bioethics Committee of the Medical University of NLG919 in vivo Białystok. All subjects gave informed consent to complete the questionnaire. The data were analyzed with the statistical package Statistica v. 7.1. Descriptive statistics including mean and standard deviations were used for sample characteristics. When comparing 2 groups, the chi-square test

for nonordered categorical variables was used. The t-test was used for comparison values of the quality of life Selleckchem RGFP966 between groups. Spearman’s analysis was used to measure the dependence of mothers of quality of life and the motor function of patients, working status and education level. A value of p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The studied groups were comparable (no significant difference) in terms of age, sex, education and residence. Due to the locomotor level according to Hoffer, 31 (62%) of children with MMC were nonambulators

(require a wheelchair), 5 (10%) of the children were nonfunctional ambulators (require assistance to walk), 3 (6%) of the children were household ambulators (able to walk at home), and 11 (22%) of the children were community ambulators (no limitations). An interview with mothers of children with MMC found that most problems with the child concerned neurogenic bladder (96%), orthopedic problems (64%), problems with concentration (34%), and with learning (28%). Details are shown in Table I. Comparing the responses of mothers of children with MMC with the control group of mothers of healthy children, we observed statistically significant pentoxifylline differences in all four domains (physical health, psychological, social relationships, and environment). Comparing the data in Table II, the greatest differences were in the physical health domain p = 0.004 and psychological domain p = 0.008. In the assessment of the quality of life by mothers of children with MMC, we found no statistically significant differences based on sex (boys, girls). Details are presented in Table III. Due to the place of residence of mothers of children with MMC the largest difference was observed in the physical health domain – a statistically significant result (mothers from the country D1 – 23, mothers from the city D1 – 21.