Evaluation of quality of life in Chilean patients with orthognathic surgery. A cohort study.

Objective: To compare the presurgical and immediate postsurgical quality of life in Chilean patients with orthognathic surgery. Material and Methods: Cohort study. The study included 30 patients (mean age 20.73, 53.33% male) who underwent orthognathic surgery primarily for severe skeletal abnormalities, (17 surgeries, 56.7%) and moderate skeletal abnormalities (12 surgeries, 40%), from three Chilean hospitals between February and June 2016. Patients were asked to answer the World Health Organization quality of life Bref version questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) validated in Spanish to measure quality of life (QoL) two weeks before and three months after the surgery. Scores for general QoL and for every domain of QoL were described. Variations in the scores of general QoL were analyzed according to sex and severity of orofacial malformation (mild, moderate or severe) (ttest p <0.05; STATA 10.0). Results: The average score for QoL according to the WHOQOL-BREF scale was 76.43±13.83 before surgery and 90.5±7.18 three months after surgery (p<0.001). Statistically significant differences according to sex and type of orofacial malformation were found (p<0.01). An increase in the score in all the domains of the WHOQOOL-BREF scale was observed. Conclusion: Orthognathic surgery significantly improved QoL scores in Chilean patients according to the WHOQOL-BREF scale