Fatigue, mood, and hemodynamic patterns after myocardial infarction.
A descriptive design with repeated measures was used to describe patterns of fatigue, emotional stress, and left ventricular (LV) function among 22 patients with myocardial infarction (MI) from day 5 postadmission to day 21 postadmission for the MI. The severity of fatigue in patients with MI during the subacute period ranged from 32 to 44 on the 100-mm Visual Analogue Scale for Fatigue. Severity of fatigue and depression remained the same; however, LV function improved (p < .01) and patients experienced more energy (p < .01) and less anxiety (p < .01) in the third week following MI. Researchers observed five different fatigue patterns: decreasing fatigue, increasing fatigue, unchanged low fatigue, unchanged-high fatigue, and a curvilinear fatigue pattern. The finding of five different fatigue patterns after an MI suggests that all patients with MI should not be treated as a uniform group assumed to have decreasing fatigue with the passage of time.
Lee
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University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, School of Nursing, Denver 80262, USA. haeok.lee@uchsc.edu
Kohlman
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GC
Lee
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Schiller
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D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005221:Fatigue / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology*; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000209:etiology*