Current status, influencing factors, and therapeutic interventions for health-related quality of life in children with vascular malformations: a scoping review

To systematically review the current evidence on the health-related quality of life, influencing factors, and therapeutic interventions in children with vascular malformations, providing evidence-based guidance for clinical nursing practice. A scoping review. This scoping review was conducted following the methodological framework developed by Arksey and O’Malley (2005) and is reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist. Nine databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure, were systematically searched from inception to November 2025. Of the 28 included studies, 18 employed observational designs, 7 were experimental, 2 used mixed methods, and 1 was qualitative. The findings indicate that children with vascular malformations have lower health-related quality of life compared with healthy peers. Influencing factors can be grouped into four categories: patient-related, disease-related, psychosocial, and treatment-related factors. Eleven assessment instruments have been used, with the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory being the most frequently applied. Therapeutic interventions were classified into three types: non-invasive, invasive, and combined treatments. Different interventions showed varied effectiveness in improving health-related quality of life. This scoping review provides a comprehensive overview of the health-related quality of life in children with vascular malformations and highlights evidence-based considerations for clinical nursing practice. Current evidence is predominantly observational, often based on small samples and heterogeneous instruments, which limits causal inference and cross-study comparison. Future research should therefore examine the differential impact of lesion type and location in adequately powered multicentre studies, and develop validated instruments to evaluate therapeutic strategies.