The Relationship Between Uncertainty in Illness and Quality of Life in Patients With Heart Failure

Background: Respecting inherent human dignity has a prominent role and is of great importance in health care discussions. Respect for people’s dignity is the basis of nursing care and is a step toward increasing patients’ satisfaction with the services provided by the staff. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the relationship of respect for dignity with anxiety, depression, stress and quality of life in patients with heart failure. Methods: This is a descriptive analytic study. The study population consisted of the patients with heart failure hospitalized at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences from 2017 to 2018. In this research, samples were selected through purposive sampling, consisting of 150 patients with heart failure from the research population. Then personal characteristics questionnaire, Inherent Dignity questionnaire (IDQ), Minnesota Living with Heart Failure questionnaire (MLHF), as well as Depression, Anxiety, Stress scale (DASS) were completed by samples. Statistical analysis was performed using descriptive statistical methods, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, one-way ANOVA and independent t-test. Results: The mean total score for patients’ inherent dignity was 102.21 out of 144, with a standard deviation of 17.92. Pearson correlation coefficient showed that the total score of the patients’ inherent dignity had no significant relationship with age (P = 0.57) and the number of heart failure-related hospital admissions (P = 0.71). Pearson correlation coefficient showed that the total score of the patients’ inherent dignity had an inverse relationship with their scores of the quality of life (P = 0.002), depression (P = 0.004), anxiety (P = 0.001), and stress (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Considering the fact that nowadays the improvement of service quality is one of the priorities of healthcare and, on the other hand, as research findings show, respecting the dignity of heart failure patients plays an important role in reducing stress, anxiety, and depression as well as increasing the quality of life, these results can be used in planning to support and improve the treatment, and the care provided for patients, and to guide the future researches regarding the inherent dignity of these patients.

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The relationship between clinical parameters and natriuretic peptides and quality of life in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction

European Journal of Preventive Cardiology ◽

10.1093/eurjpc/zwab061.044 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 28 (Supplement_1) ◽

Author(s):

F Sawczak ◽

A Kukfisz ◽

K Przytarska ◽

M Szczechla ◽

H Krysztofiak ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Heart Failure ◽

Ejection Fraction ◽

Natriuretic Peptides ◽

Nyha Class ◽

Clinical Parameters ◽

Reduced Ejection Fraction ◽

Patients With Heart Failure ◽

The Relationship

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Introduction Heart failure (HF) patients are exposed to severe symptoms of the disease, fatal prognosis, rehospitalizations and low quality of life status. Furthermore, it was observed that more patients with HF would rather live better than longer. Purpose The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between clinical parameters, natriuretic peptides level and quality of life (QoL) in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. Methods 111 patients hospitalized due to heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) were examined using WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire and divided into three groups of similar quantity due to their transformed score of somatic domain of QoL: first group with score <45 - worst QoL (n = 33), second group with score between 45 and 55 (n = 42), and third with score >55 - best QoL (n = 36). Then the group with highest scores, with best somatic QoL, was compared with those with lowest scores in respect of chosen clinical and biochemical parameters. Results Patients with the highest somatic domain score, comparing with the lowest, had significantly higher BMI (mean 29.8 ± 5.5 vs. 26.8 ± 5.7 kg/m2, p = 0.016), lower BNP level (465 vs. 967 pg/ml, median 275 vs. 690, p =0.005), higher LVEF (30.7 ± 12.0 vs. 23.9 ± 10.8%, p = 0.006), higher triglycerides level (2.02 ± 1.22 vs. 1.43 ± 0.76 mmol/l, p = 0.027) and iron level (17.8 ± 6.6 vs. 13.6 ± 5.5 µmol/l, p = 0.019) as well as transferrin saturation (28.0 ± 11.0 vs. 21.3 ± 8.9 %, p = 0.015). The percentage of patients with NYHA class I and II was higher in the group with the highest somatic domain score in comparison with the lowest (66.6% vs. 33.3% respectively, p = 0.034). Conclusions The somatic domain of WHOQOL-BREF in patients with HFrEF correlates with patients’ clinical state assessed with the NYHA class and BNP level. QoL status was not associated with age and gender which are depicted in the literature as the important aspects influencing QoL of the community.

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