Fatigue and health-related quality of life in elderly patients with and without heart failure in primary healthcare.
BACKGROUND
Patients with heart failure (HF) in primary healthcare are in many respects not comparable to those in specialized care and the knowledge about different patient groups with and without HF is limited.


OBJECTIVE
To compare fatigue and health-related quality of life (Hr-QoL) when adjusting for age, gender and social provision in patients with confirmed HF (n=49) to a group of patients with symptoms indicating HF but without HF (NHF, n=59) and to an age-and sex-matched control-group (n=40).


METHODS
A questionnaire including the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory, the SF-36, and the Social Provisions Scale was used.


RESULTS
The average age in all groups was 78 years. Patients in the HF and NHF groups reported worse physical QoL and more general and physical fatigue than the control group. HF patients had worse general health than the NHF group.


CONCLUSIONS
Elderly patients in primary healthcare with confirmed heart failure and patients with symptoms similar to heart failure perceived they had a significantly worse physical QoL and more general and physical fatigue than an age- and sex-matched control group. The similarities between the patient groups indicate the importance of the symptom experience for Hr-QoL.
Hägglund
Lena
L
Department of Nursing, Umeå University, S-90187, Umeå, Sweden. lena.hagglund@nurs.umu.se
Boman
Kurt
K
Olofsson
Mona
M
Brulin
Christine
C
D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001294:Attitude to Health; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D005221:Fatigue / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology