title: Health-related quality of life in Kazakh heart failure patients evaluated by the Minnesota living with heart failure questionnaire and comparison with a published large international sample.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To assess health-related quality of life (HRQL) in Kazakh patients (n=285) treated in Cardiology Department of the Emergency Hospital of Semey during 2012 with acute myocardial infarction and to compare results with HRQL measured in 21 countries (n=3,847).
  
  
  METHODS
  Telephone interviews survey was conducted in February 2014 with the Russian translation of Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ). Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the sample according to each single item of MLHFQ and grouping them in three subset concerning physical, emotional, and social environment dimensions of patients' life. The distribution of scores was evaluated in terms of floor and ceiling effects; Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated for the different dimensions to assess internal consistency.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean age of sample is 60.8 years, most of patients are male (71.6%) and retired (43.5%). The total MLHFQ score was generally low at a moderate degree (mean 34.7, range 0-105). Physical dimension score (mean 14.92) shows mild to moderate impairment in HRQL and a better perception than the average of the control countries (14.9 vs 16.6); emotional status (mean 4.8) is moderately adequate and better than the controls (4.8 vs 7.2); social environment (9.82) showed significant impairment of HRQL and a worse evaluation (9.82 vs 7.8).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Kazakh patients reported better emotional and physical HRQL as consequence of the social structure where family environment promotes emotional support and improves self-care, social environment affects the total MLHFQ score that is low and related to the requested availability of free medicines.
authors.affiliation: Semey State Medical University, Kazakhstan.
authors.forename: L G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Kozhekenova
authors.affiliation: Quality Unit Fondazione IRCCS Ca'Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lanzoni
authors.affiliation: Semey State Medical University, Kazakhstan.
authors.forename: T K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Rakhypbekov
authors.affiliation: "SwissKazMed", Astana, Kazakhstan.
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Mussakhanova
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department, Emergency Hospital of Semey, Kazakhstan.
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Zurikanov
authors.affiliation: Semey State Medical University, Kazakhstan - Department of Biomedical Science for Health, University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Castaldi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007623:Kazakhstan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications; D011788:Quality of Life; D012931:Social Environment; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Heart failure; Kazak patients; MLHFQ; Quality of life